Trusting an Assassin
by mmiatheirs
Summary: Her parents were brutally murdered for something they didn't do. The cops didn't want to get involved, so they transferred her to the CIA against her will. Meeting the team that would help her scared her. They were assassins, and she had to trust them. Assassins that would help her, but also transform her into one of them.
1. Chapter 1 - Cease

The family sat happily in the living room, talking before heading to bed. Cala was visiting her parents before heading back to college for her second year. The atmosphere was peaceful, almost too peaceful for what was going on outside. There was a knock on the front door. Both her mother and father fell silent.

"Are you okay?" Cala asked them. Their faces were calm, but she could see sheer terror in their eyes. Another knock, harder this time. They both stood up.

"What's going on?" she asked again, standing up as well.

"Cala, get in the closet," her mother demanded, ignoring her question.

"Why can't you tell me what's going on?" she tried again.

"Listen to your mother and hide in the closet," her father said as her mother grabbed her arm and pushed into the closet. Cala didn't resist, knowing that something extremely serious was going on. Whoever was at the door started pounding.

"Lock yourself in," her mother said, giving her daughter just enough time to turn around. She shut the door and Cala heard the front door being kicked down. She locked herself in, trying to stay calm and quiet. She kept an eye on her parents through the cracks in the closet door.

A group of armed men stepped into the room, completely covered in black. Cala's father grabbed her mother by the arm and pulled her behind him.

"You are under arrest for assisting in a smuggle," one of the men said authoritatively. The voice he spoke in was definitely not his, for it sounded more like a machine than a human being. In fact, all their voices were auto tuned on the spot for confidentiality. Her mother was shocked at the exclamation and peeked out from behind her father.

"What do you mean smuggle? My husband would never-" She was interrupted. Not by another man, but by a gunshot.

Cala's hands flew up to her mouth to muffle her scream. Her mother's body fell to the ground, limp and lifeless. A pool of blood started forming on the ground. Her father's eyes widened with anger.

He charged for the men, blinded by fury, but didn't make it far. Another man had shot him and his body fell to the ground as well. Cala was screaming silently in the closet.

One of the men, the one who seemed to be in charge, addressed the other two gunmen. "Why did you kill them both?" He seemed somewhat disappointed that his 'guests' were dead.

"We can just tell the others that they put up a fight..." one of them said. The man in charge nodded a few times before pulling out another gun and pointing them at the other two.

"That's the best idea I've heard today..." and he fired. A total of four pools of blood stained the floor. "Bring the corpses..." he instructed the rest of his men. They got to work immediately. The group hurriedly left the house, a few trails of blood following them.

In the closet, Cala was still crying, unable to believe that the happy days her family had enjoyed until now had come crashing down. When she heard a truck drive away, she let out her pain.

She stayed in the closet for a good 10 minutes, incapable of moving from the shock. A sudden wave of realization washed over her and she stepped out. _Okay_ , she thought, _I need to figure out who did this._ Sidestepping the blood, she ran up to her room, pulled out a backpack, threw in the essentials. _I'm an orphan now, so I need to take care of myself._

She walked out of the room. Scanning the house, she packed what was precious to her. She made her way to the garage. Although she lived in the outskirts of town, she didn't want to draw anyone's attention by using the car, so she pulled her bike outside, a good 30 meters away.

Back in the garage, she hauled a tank of oil into the house. _I need to burn it so people don't get too suspicious when my parents don't show up for a while_... She unscrewed the lid and walked around, pouring oil in every room, making sure to leave a trail that lead outside. If anyone were to see her, they ought to have thought that she had lost it.

She threw away the tank and rushed to the kitchen. There, she opened one of the drawers and pulled out a lighter. She left the house.

 _Goodbye old memories_ , Cala thought to herself standing at the end on the trail of oil. She opened the lighter and ignited the flame. Dropping it, she turned around and jogged over to her bike. She hopped on and rode off, without looking back at the house, which was already in flames.

She pedalled for half an hour. When she arrived at her destination, she was out of breath. She got off her bike and stepped into the police station. She walked up to the cop behind the front desk.

"How may I help you?" he said. She opened her mouth to speak, but shut it quickly. The image of her parents laying dead on the floor came across her mind. She bit her lip before answering the policeman.

"My parents... They..." She wasn't sure how she should present her situation. "They were killed for something they didn't do..."

The man stared at her, trying to determine how she knew this. "And that was...?"

"My father was charged for smuggling..."

"Smuggling what?" He was pretty certain that she was trying to cover up the fact that she murdered her own parents.

"I don't know... I was hiding in the closet when the men came..." Her voice cracked. The officer started doubting his suspicion. "They accused my dad, shot my mother, shot my father..." Tears started to well up in her eyes. The cop pursed his lips, feeling somewhat sorry for the girl. "Then the man who seemed to be in charge killed the two who had executed my parents... They took the bodies and left..."

"Were you able to see their faces?" he asked after a moment.

"No, they were completely covered... And they seemed to know what they were doing..." She had started to chew on the inside of her cheek.

"Sounds more like a planned assassination than an arrest to me..." The policeman was pretty sure a secret organization was under this, something like the MI-6, therefore, he couldn't help the girl... "Listen, kid, I'd love to help you, but I can't..." He pulled out a pen.

"What do you mean you can't help me? You're the goddamn police, are you not?" Cala was frustrated. The man simply scribbled a phone number on a piece of paper.

"Yes I am, but I'm not qualified to deal with this kind of stuff... I'm going to refer you to my higher officials, okay?"

Cala wasn't impressed. She just wanted to know who killed her parents, so she could avenge them. The policeman handed her the paper. She hesitated before taking it.

"Thank you," she said plainly. She turned around and started walking, clutching the paper in her hand.

"If you're going home, I suggest you don't... The people who murdered your parents might still be there..." the officer called out to her before she reached the door.

"Oh I know... I can't go home anyway..." she said, stopping in her tracks. She paused a moment. "I burned it..." With that, she walked out of the station, leaving the cop baffled.

Instead of pulling out her cellphone to dial the number, she made her way to a phone booth. She dug for a quarter in her bag. She inserted the coin into the machine and punched in the number the officer had given her. The line on the end rang a few times. She started fiddling with the cord. Just before she was about to put the phone back, someone picked up.

"Hello?" A man with a deep voice said on the other line.

"Um... Hi, my name is Cala Brogs and I was transferred here by a police station..." she said.

"Denver?"

"Yes..."

"Alright, what's your emergency?"

"Um..." She wasn't sure if she should trust this man, so she gave him the most broad explanation she could. "My parents were murdered for something they didn't do..."

"Why and how were they murdered?" The man sounded pretty intrigued. Cala was still doubtful.

"Um... They were charged for smuggling... And they were shot..." She heard some switches being turned on. The man didn't answer for a moment. She realized that she was gripping the cord in her hand, but she didn't let go.

"Did you see who shot them?" He sounded dead serious.

"No. They were completely covered in black... And their voices were different..." She didn't get an answer. She only had to wait a minute.

"We've acknowledged your situation Miss Brogs."

"What?" _Why is he so formal all of a sudden_ , she thought to herself. He ignored her statement.

"Do you have a residence you can return to?"

"No..." Another pause.

"Well, I'm guessing we're going to have to pick you up then... Stay where you are, a black vehicle should join you in a few minutes..."

This scared Cala a bit. "Okay... But who are you exactly?" A slight pause at the other end.

"The cops in Denver never do their job do they?"

She let go of the wire. "Huh?"

"Then let's keep this a secret until you get picked up..." With that, the man on the other line hung up. She slowly put the phone back and stepped out of the booth. She waited a while. When they didn't come, she decided to start walking, thinking that they would never show up.

She had nearly reached the end of the street when she heard the sound of tires screeching against cement behind her. She turned around and saw two huge lights charging for her. The vehicle they belonged to stopped abruptly beside her. Her ride was here; a sleek black minivan with a metal frame and a few satellites on the roof.

Inside the minivan, a man with long dirty blonde hair was crouched, staring at the ground, ready to open the side door. His hair had a mind of its own, falling in gentle waves just past his shoulders. When he felt the car lurch to a stop, he immodestly pulled the door open without even bothering to look up at the girl.

"In," he said boldly. She didn't move. "Now." He looked up to see a pair of pale grey eyes, perfectly aligned in a lightly freckled face which was framed with long black hair, staring at him hesitantly. "We're basically the CIA, you don't have to worry..." She blinked a few times before reluctantly swinging herself into the vehicle.

Cala couldn't believe what was happening to her. She was headed to one of the branches in the CIA in one of their minivans. On top of that, the man who had picked her up had lilac eyes. Not the kind of eyes that had a dash of purple in them, but eyes that their irises were fully purple. And there was another thing about him that was different, but she couldn't figure out what it was. _Either its a gene defect_ , she said to herself, _or he's lucky to have those rare eyes_. She also couldn't believe that the people in the van with her were very unsocial, although that cleared up when they were out of the city.

"Sorry I was very straightforward... I didn't mean to scare you..." the one with purple eyes said. He was sitting next to her in the middle row.

"You don't have to apologize..." Cala answered him.

"Don't mind him, he's always like that..." the one in the driver's seat, a man with short blood red hair, said.

"No I'm not!" Purple-Eyes defended. "I'm just trying to be nice..."

"Whatever..." Red-Hair waved him off. Cala could tell that they were pretty good friends, and their little fight made her smile. Purple-Eyes noticed.

"See that Arc? People smile when others try to be nice..." Cala blushed. _Is he flirting with me_? she thought.

"Don't get me wrong, but I think you two are creeping her out..." the one sitting in the passenger's seat said. This one had bleached white hair and very pale blue eyes. Getting a good look at them, Cala knew that this one was a girl, and she seemed like a cold person.

"And who asked for your opinion?" Red-Hair told her.

"Shut up," Purple-Eyes said. "Do you want me to report you for being annoying again?"

"You don't have to be so threatening..." White-Hair said.

"God, why can't I have some fun..." Red-hair said. He turned to face the girl. Cala could tell that he had a thing for her from the way he was looking at her. "But I'd really like to have some fun with you if that's cool..." He was cut off by a gun pointed at his face. She wasn't impressed whatsoever.

"I'll blow your fucking brain to bits and I don't care if you're driving. Is that understood, _shithead_?" She barked.

"Sen... Put the gun down..." Purple-Eyes said. She glared at Red-Hair before lowering her gun. "Thank you..." He addressed Red-Hair. "Haven't you learned your lesson? She doesn't like you..." He was very blunt about it.

Cala was surprised at the rate this situation went from being joyful and calm to tense and full of hatred. White-Hair pressed a button on the control panel.

"Guys, cool it..." a voice echoed through the car. It was the same man who had answered Cala's call. "Shut your traps and focus on getting here..."

"Sure thing..." White-Hair answered, pressing the same button. Cala was still trying to figure out how he could hear them, but then she remembered that this was the CIA, and they had all sorts of gadgets.


	2. Chapter 2 - Solace

The van drove on, a total of four people in it and they were getting to know each other - more like Cala was getting to know them. Red was Arc, white was Sen, and she didn't know who purple was yet.

Eventually, they made it to their destination. It was a small, flat, three story high building, mostly made up of glass walls. Cala wondered why this building wasn't huge, like she had imagined a CIA building to be. There were a few guards dressed in black suits at the entrance. This reminded Cala of the men who killed her parents and she fell into an insecure state. The van drove up to them and the front window was rolled down.

"Requested pick up by Franz," Arc said, motioning to Cala.

"Go ahead," the guard beside the window said. They drove into an underground parking. Instead of parking the car, he steered the vehicle into a large elevator. The engine was turned off and the elevator started moving. Cala thought they were going up, but realized that they were going down when she looked out the window.

A rush of excitement flowed through her. She wondered what they were planning on doing with her, since she didn't have anywhere to go to. Maybe they'd let her stay here... Maybe she'd have to live with one of them... Maybe they'd find her somewhere to live...

The elevator stopped and Cala could see the underground level of the 'facility'. She only noticed that everyone else had gotten out of the car when her door opened suddenly, frightening her. Her head snapped to see why it had done so, and found the one with purple eyes holding the door open with one hand, and holding out his other hand towards her.

"Did I scare you?" he said.

She giggled. "Yeah... But I'm fine..."

He smiled and let go of the door, leaning into the hand that was held out. "Need a hand?"

"Uh... Sure..." She grabbed her backpack, took his hand and hopped out of the van. She landed right beside him, a bit too close. He was way taller than she expected him to be; around six feet. Her awkwardness kicked in. "Oh... Sorry... I-I didn't mean to... um... sorry..."

He smiled even more. "Don't worry about it..." She didn't like the fact that he was so indifferent about it. She let go of his hand and stepped away slowly. Then she turned around and jogged over to the others. The group was met by a tall man with short light blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"We got her, just like you asked..." Sen told him sharply.

"Don't be so rude, she just got here..." From his voice, Cala could tell that this was the man who had answered her phone call a few hours ago.

"Arc pissed me off in the van..."

The blonde one glared at Arc. "I'll have a talk with him, don't worry..." Sen nodded and left swiftly.

He turned his attention from her to Cala. "So, Cala, how do you like it here so far?"

Arc stared at her in awe but she didn't notice. "Um... I guess I like it... I mean-"

"Your name is Cala?" Arc cut her off, his eyes wide.

"Yes... Do you have a problem with it?" she questioned him with confidence.

"No, no... I just..." he trailed off.

"You guys will have time to socialize later. Now, we have to get her somewhere to sleep," the blonde one said, steering the conversation into another direction. There was something in his tone of voice that hinted Cala that he was implying something, but she didn't know what it was.

"Well, I'd better be off..." Arc said, turning around and waving over his shoulder.

"I'm gonna show Cala around... You can stick with us if you want Daeus..." Blondie said.

"Okay," he answered. To Cala, it seemed as if everyone had a funky name. The blonde one turned around stand started walking. Cala followed him with Daeus walking by her side.

He leaned in to her as they walked, muttering something meant only for her. "Cala's a very pretty name..."

"Thank you..." she said, blushing. He grinned at her and she finally realized what was bugging her ever since she met him; he was very handsome and had a sculpted face, the type of face that is used to being gawked at. That made her blush even more. She walked faster to catch up with her guide.

He showed her around, letting her know each rooms purpose. They eventually came across a metal bridge with a glass railing. Crossing it, Cala looked down to her right and saw a man dressed in a thin black suit. Her first thought was that this facility was responsible for killing her parents, but when she realized that his hair was black too, and that he had a red stripe down his back that split into smaller red stripes that wrapped around his middle, she put that aside. His outfit in whole, including the red piece of fabric tied around his forehead, reminded her of a ninja.

What she didn't know was that she was witnessing him train. He ran down the room, doing barrel rolls to slash every bag of flour that fell down from the ceiling with so much precision and smoothness it looked like he was dancing with two long swords and a bunch of flour bags.

When he finished, he took a particular stance, legs evenly spread apart, swords down at his sides but in line with his legs, straight arms, head down, all this with an even breathing. He must've sensed her looking at him since he looked up abruptly.

Daeus took that chance to say hello. He started waving at him frantically, although the other one ignored him. He pointed to Cala with his sword, tilting his head. Daeus pointed at their guide and the other one nodded right before putting down his swords and walking out of the room.

"Friend of yours?" Cala asked him.

"Yeah, that's Shawn and he's part of the group..." he answered.

"Nice... Hey, um... I never got the chance to get his name..." she said, pointing to their guide.

"That's Z..."

"As in the letter?"

"Yes as in the letter..." He chuckled.

"What's funny?"

"Heh... Nothing..." He didn't really want to tell her that she was adorable, for the simple purpose of not freaking her out, especially when he had already commented on her name.

"Stop socializing and get over here you two," Z called out to them.

"Sorry Franz..." Daeus answered meekly. He walked up to him, changing the subject. "So... Where's Cala going to sleep?"

"I was thinking about that empty room on your floor... Does that sound good?"

"I'd have to get it fixed up first, but that's a good idea..."

"Cala, why don't you get a head start to Daeus's floor? It's the 3rd one. I need to have a quick talk with him."

"Uh... Sure..." She walked by them and made her way to the elevator. She punched in her floor number and the doors shut in front of her.

Seeing the doors close, Franz brought up something pretty important. "You do know that we can't keep her here as a guest right?"

"Yes I am aware," Daeus confirmed.

"So you're going to have to take care of her if you want her to stay..."

"What?" He was debating whether Franz was implying that he had a knack for her or not.

"If we're going to let her stay, you have to train her..." Luckily, that wasn't what he was implying.

"At what rate?"

"About the same rate you had... And I'll have you out in the field more often..."

"Alright... Thanks for the notice..." With that told to him, he walked up to the elevator and waited for it to get to the 3rd floor.

Franz's chat had flustered him. Yes, Cala was cute, there was no doubt in that, and so far, she was extremely nice, but he wasn't sure if Franz had noticed something different about him. Maybe he did have a thing for her, maybe he didn't, how would he know. After all, he was pretty surprised when he first saw her.

And now he had to train her, and he didn't even know what she was capable of. Hell, he didn't know why they had picked her up in the first place. All this thinking was making everything seem slow to him, to the point where he stepped out of the elevator without waiting for the doors.

"By the way, I have to-" he was cut off. Not by surprise, but because Cala was right under his nose. He had walked into her. And he was wondering why she hadn't moved over beforehand.

"To..." She wasn't bothered by the fact that they were a bit too close again, although he was a bit uncomfortable. He forgot where he was going with his words.

"Don't you know that other people come out of elevators?"

"I do..." she mocked. He shook his head, mentally changing the subject. His eyelids spazzed a little trying to remember what he was saying. Eventually, he did, and he stepped aside.

"As I was saying, I need to start training you, and I also need to get you installed..."

"Train me?"

"Franz told me I'd have to if we were to let you stay here..."

"Oh... But why do you have to train me? For what?"

He smiled. "To become a special agent in the CIA." Cala was astonished.

She wasn't sure if she had heard him right. "You want me to join the CIA?"

"That's the only option right now..."

"Um... Okay I guess..."

"Great. Your training starts tomorrow, and I'll wake you up early," he said, walking to the end of the corridor. She hung behind before following him. He pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, chose one and opened the door. "This is going to be your room for the time being." He unhooked the key from the keychain and handed it to her. Hesitantly, she took it and poked her head into the room. A few lights turned on, as they were motion censored. In fact, all the lights in the building were motion censored.

It was way bigger than she had expected it to be. A huge window on the back wall, taking up most of it, covered with two thin white curtains that fluttered lightly with the wind. A long pale couch against the right wall with a small coffee table next to it. She stepped in to see the rest and was dumbfounded.

This wasn't a room. This was a small apartment. Sliding open the glass doors on her left, she found herself in a hallway, looking at a small dining table surrounded by two chairs. She started to walk up to it when she noticed a door on her right. Swinging that open, she found a bathroom with a shower. Leaving the door wide open, she walked toward the dining table and realized that this was her little kitchen.

A long black fridge leaning against the right wall, a counter decorated with a microwave, a grey double sink and a wall oven, and a bunch of shelves. She blinked in awe a few times before turning around and walking into the last room; her bedroom. Double doors to it, a beautifully furnished king-sized bed, two bed tables, a desk and a dresser. And to top it all off, a majestic modern chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. Cala couldn't believe that all of this was hers.

"Do you like it?" Daeus asked her quietly. She hadn't noticed that he was standing in her doorway.

"It's perfect!" she answered, turning around.

"Great... I'll let you get some sleep then... There's a change of clothes in the dresser..." With that, he slipped out of the room.

She heard the front door close a moment later. She was still holding onto her backpack. She swung it off her shoulder and held it in one hand. Seeing a worn out blue bag reminded her of her parents, how they were killed, how she lost it, how she burned her house, how tired she was and how unstable she was.

She dropped the bag, letting herself fall onto the bed, sobs taking over. She cried for a good three minutes non stop before finally being able to calm down a little. Now she looked like hell and felt like hell, but all she wanted to do was sleep. And that's exactly what she did, although she didn't bother to get under she bedsheets.

Daeus never left her apartment. He had closed the door and sat down on the couch as silently as possible. A few moments went by before he heard three things one after the other. Something fell to the ground, most likely her backpack. The sound of someone flopping onto a bed. The sobs of a traumatized girl.

Three long minutes went by before her cries calmed down. He stood up and crept up to her bedroom door. Watching her sound asleep made him debate whether he should cover her or not, since she hadn't changed out of what she was wearing. He decided to leave her be and snaked out of her new home.


	3. Chapter 3 - Genesis

Daeus stood, a bucket of cold water in his hands, next to Cala as she was still sleeping. She hadn't moved since he last checked on her. He felt somewhat bad for waking her up like this, but Franz had asked him to train her at the same rate he had trained him, and that included waking up to a bucked of water the first day.

He took a deep breath before dumping it on her. He knew he would have to wash the sheets. She was up in a matter of seconds, shouting insults at him.

"Morning," he said, ignoring her swears. "It's 7am. Training starts in half an hour. You're not allowed to take a shower. Meet me by the elevator. I won't be happy if you're late." He turned on his heels and walked out of the apartment.

"Piss off," she answered. She didn't like that fact that she was completely soaked and wasn't allowed to take a shower. She needed to get dry anyway, so she shuffled her way to the bathroom and pulled out a towel.

Shuffling back to her room, she put the towel on her dresser. Then she proceeded to taking off her wet clothes. As she did so, she dug through the multiple drawers in the dresser, finding a pair of underwear, sporty leggings, a sports bra and a comfy t-shirt. She slipped them all on, drying herself beforehand, and finishing off by giving her hair a hard rub to dry it.

She found a small sandwich in the fridge and ate that for breakfast. When she finished, she had ten minutes left to be outside. She went back to her room to look for a pair of running shoes, but all she found were long skin tight boots. She pulled those on with a bit of a struggle.

Four minutes left. Digging through her backpack, she pulled out a necklace, one that her mother had given her when she was young, and slipped it on. A silver chain with a silver flower as a pendant and a pink gem in the middle now decorated her neck.

She stepped out of the apartment to find Daeus waiting for her beside the elevator. He was wearing a comfortable looking black jumpsuit with sleeves, the same type of boots she was wearing, his hair somewhat tied up in a half ponytail. A purple stripe, almost the same colour as his eyes, ran down the middle of his back, right where his spine would be, then separated into little stripes that laced his torso, then contouring his legs.

"Ready?" he asked her as soon as he saw her.

"I think so..." she answered. Instead of calling the elevator, he opened the door next to it to reveal void.

"Jump."

" _What_?"

"It's 7:30. Your training has started." She was extremely unsure about this. She walked up to the door and peered down. She couldn't see the bottom. The drop led to the level where Shawn was training the night before, one floor under the basement, but she didn't know that. She took a deep breath, telling herself that she'll be fine. She took a step forward and let herself fall.

Adrenaline kicked in. She wasn't panicking. She was wide awake, aware of everything around her. Finally, the ground hit her, but somehow, she had managed to land safely, falling onto her side and rolling away to fade the shock. She stood up, amazed at what she had done on pure instinct, just in time to see Daeus land.

He stopped in a stance that reminded her of a grasshopper. Squatting on one leg, the other one stuck out to the side, balancing himself on the tips of his fingers in front of him. Cala wondered how many times he had done it. He stood up slowly, keeping his head down.

Then, he snapped it up. "4.8 seconds. That's how long it took you to do it right after I told you to," he said, pulling out a timer from his pocket and showing it to her. "And the way you landed was pretty impressive. You seem to be a natural. I'm pretty sure that once you're done your training, you might just be better than all of us."

"You timed me?" she asked, slightly pissed off.

"To see how strong your willpower is. Don't worry, you did way better than I did. I had 9.6 seconds..."

"Is that good?"

"The ideal time is less than 5. So far, only Sen and you were able to get that..."

"Oh..." She was shocked.

"Moving on. Follow me." She did as she was told. Daeus explained what they were going to start with as they walked. "I need you to take a physical examination, so we can get you a suit. What colour stripes do you want?"

"What's taken?"

"Purple, red, brown, yellow and white." Cala did want something to match her eyes, but she didn't want grey.

"Can it be a blue stripe?"

"Like your eyes?" He had successfully resisted the urge of saying ' _Like your beautiful eyes_ '.

"Yeah..."

"Okay we could do that..." He stopped next to a room. "How tall are you?"

"5'8..." He punched in the number 172 into a keypad next to the door. It swung open and they both stepped in, starting her training. Daeus kept taking glances at her athletic body. He was pretty sure even she didn't know where all this skill was coming from, but she seemed to be made for this.

They worked on speed, agility, hand-to-hand combat, secrecy and discreetness. Her ability to take things in at the rate she was was impressing him. He needed to inform Franz about her capabilities.

 **ABOUT A MONTH LATER**

Cala's skills have improved tremendously since she first started training. Her hand-to-hand combat was flawless, bumping her up to another level. Now she sparred with either knifes or sticks, rendering her confident enough to fight against Shawn, and usually ending up tied with him, which was quite rare.

Her strategies, in both combat and scenarios, were stunning. She was extremely strategic, maybe even more than Franz, maybe even more than the CIA itself. When it came to dealing with the unexpected, her improvisation was perfect as well, developing useful methods to steer her back on track.

Regardless, her learning pace was exquisite, explaining her success. In a matter of a week, she had mastered the necessary technology to be able to monitor the group from the building while they were in the field, finally giving Franz a chance to get back out there.

But he still needed to tell her that. Franz was walking across the main hall when he spotted Cala.

"Cala!" he called out. She turned around to face him and was greeted with a smile. They walked over to each other.

"Hi Franz," she answered.

"Daeus informed me about your scores..." She blushed slightly, looking away for a moment. "Are you a machine or something? I mean, nobody has ever been able to get what you're getting. You could even take my place and not have a single doubt on you from all the branches."

She looked back at him with a small smile. "What do you mean?"

"You tied Sen on the shaft. You tied Shawn in sparring. You tied me in strategies and improvisation. You beat Daeus in agility and discreetness. You beat everyone in speed. And you're going to beat Toni, Arc and I in monitoring." She was stunned to see that Daeus was right. She was, in fact, better than all of them.

"Who's Toni?"

"You haven't met him yet?"

"No..."

"Then let's go find him." He started walking towards what Cala knew was the library, followed closely by her.

Reaching the archive, he held the door open for her to step in first. It was a humongous room full of a diversity of files, articles and books, and it even had ladders to reach the top shelves. As she stood amazed, Franz passed her, leading her to a small shelf in one of the corners of the room. She joined him.

He took a book, 'Are We Assassins or Are We Not?', and tilted it backward until it reached a 45° angle. Then he released it to reveal a secret passage.

They stepped in and started walking down a spiral staircase that didn't seem to end. Luckily, it finally did and they stepped out into a simple room packed with computers, monitors and headsets. He found the only person in the room besides them and pointed to them.

"Toni's monitoring a mission that was assigned to another branch..." he said quietly. Cala nodded.

From the top of his head, Toni looked familiar. She was extremely eager to meet him to give her brain a rest. Unfortunately, they had to wait a while before doing so, since he was kinda very busy.

When his work ended, he stood up abruptly, cheering his teammates on with a little dance. When he noticed that someone else was in the room with him, he regained his composure, but let his jaw drop when his eyes panned over Cala. She too was surprised to see who was behind the screen.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she said. "I thought someone killed you or something."

Their reunion was interrupted by Franz who was waiting for an explanation. "You two know each other?"

"Childhood friends. He left college a few months ago, I still don't know why..." she said quickly, wiping away a tear forming in the corner of her eye.

"I left for a good reason Cala..."

"And what would that be?" she snickered, hating him for leaving but being stunned to see him.

"Although I had toughened up like you advised me, they were still at it..." She knew exactly what he was talking about, but she didn't know that Franz knew as well. Toni was bullied throughout high school. The gang followed their victim to college, but since they were trying to break him completely, they pushed it up a notch when he stopped caring.

"You never told me it got worse..." There was a look of concern in her eyes, a look that will only come out from a mother or a lover. Franz took the hint.

"You two must be real close then..." he said.

"Yeah..." Toni answered.

"Well, I have some stuff I need to get done, so I'd better get to work... Cala, just push on the bookcase when you're at the top of the stairs." With that, Franz turned and left, giving the two some time together. When Toni heard the shelf slam shut, he turned his full attention to his best friend.

"It's nice to see you again Freckles," he said.

"Shut up," she insisted. He walked up to her with confidence and pulled her into a tight hug, nuzzling his head in her shoulder.

"I've missed you so damn much..." He kept asking himself why he left her in the first place. He felt her hug him back

"So have I... But you were gone for so long... What were you thinking? You didn't even tell me where you were going..." She was suddenly overwhelmed by the familiarity of his touch, his scent, his voice, his face and his personality. Yes, the two did have a thing for each other, but neither of them wanted to admit it. She had been trying to forget him ever since he left.

He pulled back from his hug and held her by the side of her arms. "I'm sorry for what I did, okay?" Their heads were a bit too close. Cala started to remember the Toni that she had tried to forget. A tall gentleman with unevenly long brown hair, light brown eyes, rosy cheeks. One of the only friends she had.

What he did next was one of the biggest surprises in her life. He pulled her closer until their faces were millimetres apart. Closing his eyes, he leaned in to steal a kiss. Time seemed to stop for both of them. When he pulled back, she was still fuddled.

"I never really wanted to do what I did, but I've always wanted to do that," he said quietly. She didn't know how to feel about it.

She had known Toni for as long as she could remember, but she also started to feel funny around Daeus. For her, it seemed right to love someone who she had known since she was a wee one, but it also seemed right to love someone she just met. She decided to do what she thought was best, and that was to live in the moment.

Smiling a sly smile, she took a hold of his neck and kissed him, feeling his arms wrap around her waist in a hold that was slightly too tight. He was toned compared to the skinny twig she had known all her life. They kissed for a while, not willing to break free from each other. They were reunited, and that was all they both wanted the most.

Little did Cala know that Daeus was seeing all of this through the security camera, more and more hate building up for his colleague. He didn't know what was into him - _fuck, fuck it, fucking hell, fuck you, motherfucker_ \- but he was pretty sure he was jealous. Was he really falling for a beautiful college student that was somehow capable of everything?

He stormed out of the room he was in, getting a few glances from Arc who was watching the main doors. He was glad he had turned off the screen before leaving. He speed walked to the elevators and hopped in. He didn't go to the 3rd floor. He went straight to the roof.

Stepping out, he found the mattress he kept up there right where he had left it. He lay down on it, staring at the sky, contemplating about life.

His thoughts went from Toni, to Cala, to his father, and eventually to his brother. The more he thought about his older brother, the more depressed he became. _No no no no no no no_ , he thought, remembering his brother's last moments. He desperately needed something to distract him. He knew a building not too far away without any windows on one side, about 15 stories high.

He stood up, looking in the direction of that building, finding it in a blink of an eye. Then he ran - _fuck man_ \- getting enough momentum to jump off the current building he was on. He landed safely and kept going until he reached the building he wanted.

There, standing on the edge, his arms out to the side, he let the wind mess up his hair. He didn't care anymore. He did what he always did when his brother came into mind and he was right were he was. He let himself drop backwards, staying as limp as possible. This was his 35th time. _Fuck life_.

The speed he was falling at would have told someone he was committing suicide. But he wasn't. He was counting in his head. He got to 6 and immediately pressed a button on his belt. A thick wire shot out, climbing the building at an incredible speed, hooking onto the top. A second went by before his lever kicked in. His hips jerked upward, stopping his fall.

He was exactly a meter above the ground, hanging by his waist, his arms out, his head back - _fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK YOU'RE FUCKING_ DEPRESSED - his eyes closed. If someone were to have seen him like this, they would have thought he was dead. Sadly, that's exactly what he wanted to be. He wanted to be dead, just like his brother.

He took a deep breath before unhooking himself - _fuck this shit_ \- flipping around in midair to land like a cat. But now that he had met Cala, he wouldn't allow himself to die, even if that was his fate. Yes, it was his fault that his older brother wasn't here - _you fucking bastard_ \- but he needed to put that aside. He stood up, leaving the wire where it was, and walked back to the facility as if nothing had happened. _You're the reason your fucking brother is fucking dead, shithead._


	4. Chapter 4 - Onslaught

They would attack Sequi tomorrow, mid-day. Franz had suspected them to be behind the newbie's parents' deaths. Cala was in charge of monitoring the group. Franz was in charge of helping Cala if needed, since this was her first non-simulation. The rest of them would be in the field, separated into groups. Daeus and Arc. Sen and Toni. Shawn was the exception, alone like always.

He wasn't good at teamwork. Ever since they took his little sister, he was antisocial, although it had gotten better when he joined. Him being separated from the group was also somewhat and advantage, since he refused to use guns. He preferred swords, ninja stars and machetes. After all, he was Japanese, and he refused to interact with anything 'western'.

Daeus knew exactly what he had to do. It was a lot easier said than done. Go in there, kill a few hundred, find Arc, check in, return to the branch. He stayed up most of the night running it in his head over and over again. But he kept missing.

There was that one man that just wouldn't die. No matter what he thought of, it didn't work. Trying one last thing and succeeding, the man fell to the ground in his mind. He flipped him over and saw Cala's face. It was at that moment that he decided he went too far and his mind started wandering. If he were to run it again, he was certain that his brother's face would be plastered on the man's face.

He got out of bed and changed into his outfit. He left his apartment and went down to the lobby. He was surprised to find Sen down there, sitting at a table with nothing in front of her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she answered without bothering to look back nor stand up from her chair. He walked over to her and sat in front of her. She was staring into nothing.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"No... You?"

"No."

"Bad dream?" she asked, her eyes focusing.

"Bad planning."

"Oh..."

"What about you?"

"Bad dream," she said, looking away

"Same old?"

"Yes."

He tapped the table with his knuckle. "Want to train with me?"

"With what?"

"I was thinking lazer guns..."

She looked up, giving him a sarcastic look. "Really?"

"Why not? It'll be fun..."

"That's what they all say." She stood up, walking to the elevator. "Are you coming or not?"

He stood up and walked to her, glad that Sen was back to her somewhat normal self. They hopped into the elevator and went down two floors, to the training area. There, Daeus found an empty room that wasn't too far from the change rooms and punched in 185 on the keypad.

"You're 6'1?" Sen asked him.

"Yes," he answered simply. The lock clicked and he opened the door, letting the lady go in first. There, they picked their guns and headed back to the change rooms. Neither of them was in the mood of getting their suits dirty, especially when they were already going to get dirty the next day.

Back in the training room, they were both now wearing black sweat pants and a black tank top. They set up the room and started working on precision.

 **A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER**

Cala sat in a comfortable chair, headset on and staring at a few screens at a time. Franz was right next to her, sitting in a similar chair, in charge of taking over if she couldn't handle it.

Three screens, five windows, each window to a person, each screen to a group. Thermal cameras were installed in each room of the facility, and Cala had already hacked them to keep an eye on the squad while they were in Sequi's central building.

Under each window for each person, was a small screen receiving live feed from camera lenses. These small pieces of technology were the most essential to them, giving the one behind the screen access to a ground visual.

They had just left the building, everyone taking their separate way, ready to pair up if needed. Watching the multiple screens all at once, Cala remembered what she had realized a few weeks back.

These people weren't spys, but rather assassins. Fortunately, they didn't kill for the fun. They killed for justice, and that qualified them as some sort of vigilante group. Vigilantes that murdered people for equality.

An hour went by before the action started. Keeping an eye on everyone, Cala gave them instructions, asked them questions and ensured their safety. Everyone was plugged into the same channel, meaning that everyone could hear her.

"Daeus, you've got five on your left. Arc, a group of three coming for you. Shawn, one from every hallway around you." That was pretty much what she said for a good half hour, getting the group to kill them strategically, although what she saw through the contact lenses was pretty brutal and somewhat disgusting.

Nearing the end of their mission, Cala started to count all their kills. In total, they had ended 1475 members of Sequi so far, meaning about 30% of it. Daeus had finished 300 and was already heading back, pretty beaten. Arc had finished 250 and was going the same as Daeus, sprinting alongside him. Shawn had finished 350 and was heading back on the rooftops, two trails of blood following him, both of them from his machetes.

Those were the only three who came back on time. Their mission didn't exactly go as planned, for they lost a member.

 **FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO**

"Where are you going?" Cala asked him.

"To fight some bastards... Isn't that what I'm supposed to do..."

"Yeah, but not that way... You weren't assigned there..."

"Stop lying to me Freckles..."

"I'm not lying, and stOP WALKING IN THAT DIRECTION YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!"

"I'm fine Cala..."

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!"

"Why are you freaking out?"

"BECAUSE YOU'VE GOT A SWARM OF SEQUI COMING TOWARD YOU!"

"I can handle it... How many?"

"Around 50..."

"Let them come..."

"Just get out of there."

"I'm not going anywhere... I'm here and I won't leave..." He was obviously ready to put up a fight. The group got to him and he started shooting.

"You've always been so stubborn..." Cala told him.

"Well, maybe that's just the way I am..." he said after a while.

"Shut up."

"I don't think I can handle all of these men..." he panted after a minute.

"Do you need backup?" she asked.

"That would be great," he said while shooting one from behind a few others.

Checking her screen, Cala came up with some bad news. "Um... Sen's pretty busy right now... I don't think she can help you out..."

"Damnit! Is she loose?"

"What do you mean?"

"Does she look like she lost it?"

Cala brought her eyes over to Sen's window. What she saw wasn't human. The speed Sen was killing them at wasn't normal and her stamina wasn't going anywhere. What creeped Cala out the most, was that the way she was fighting them hinted that she was really enjoying this, putting aside her slightly demonic giggles.

"Absolutely..." Cala said after a second.

"Figures..."

"What?"

"Arsenic has been unleashed."

"Huh?"

"Sen, she's basically like Arse - ARGH!" Toni was cut off by a bullet to the shoulder. "Shit!"

"Oh my..."

"I'm fine I just - DAMNIT!" Another bullet to the shoulder. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Okay, you've got an exit on your left..." He had already stared to run in that direction, both arms hanging behind, limp. A gunshot was heard and the contact lens dropped to the ground, meaning that Toni was shot.

"I CAN'T FUCKING MOVE! THEY GOT MY SPINE! I CAN'T DO ANYTHING! I-" The thermal cameras told Cala that he was just shot in the head.

She started bawling. "FUCKING _HELL_ TONI!" She slammed the desk with her fist. "GOD I HATE THIS JOB! SEN WHERE ARE YOU?!" It took Sen a minute to answer.

"I killed them _all_..." she said in a terrifyingly playful voice, emphasizing the 'all', followed by a small fit of demonic giggles. "All _425_ of you..."

"Sen..."

She ignored Cala. "You've been killed by _Arsenic_..." she chanted.

"Ignore her Cala," Franz pitched in.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked him with a hiccup.

"She had a really rough childhood... That's all I'm going to say..."

"Rough enough to do that to her...?"

"Yeah..."

"Holy shit..."

Franz pursed his lips. "Let's not talk about it anymore."

"Mkay..." she said, wiping away a tear.


	5. Chapter 5 - Pursue

Mid October. Two weeks after Toni's death. Two weeks after Cala started to know the different side of most of them. Two weeks after she got 'promoted'.

Arc and Franz have been able to pick out a handful of suspects in Sequi, meaning a good fifty of them. And to rush things a lot more, four of them were around town. This gave Cala an opportunity to work in the field while testing her discreteness, since there was always a chance that Sequi wasn't finished with her family.

Sitting at a table, in front of a coffee shop, sipping her drink, she was waiting. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do when she spotted a suspect, but she had agreed anyway, just to get her out of the facility for a change. She was also very well equipped, wearing contacts, an earpiece in her ear, a gun tucked in the small of her back, a microphone attached to her shirt.

Then, a complete stranger came and sat down in front of her. He was wearing a long black trench coat, his curly brown hair slicked back out of his face, showing a few ear piercings. A pair of dark brown eyes stared at Cala.

"Hello miss..." he said calmly. From his first impression, Cala noticed that he had a strong accent, most likely Russian. "Would you happen to know where I could find a club nearby? I've just arrived here and I'm supposed to meet a friend..."

"Sorry, I'm not into clubbing, so I wouldn't know..." she said.

"Ah... Well, sorry for having bugged you then..." He started to stand up to leave when she suddenly had the urge to grab his wrist, sit him back down and offer to buy him a coffee. Surprisingly, she did that before she was even aware of it.

"Um..." She tried covering up her embarrassment by standing up. "Can I get you a coffee or something?" she asked hesitantly.

It was at that moment that things got nasty. Franz intervened.

"Cala, he's part of Sequi..." Cala heard him say in her ear. Her eyes widened slowly with fear. She let go of his wrist and stared at him blankly. The man was confused at first, but then realized that this girl knew where he was from.

There was a moment's pause where both their worlds seemed to stop, before he turned around and started sprinting, pushing people out of the way to go even faster.

It took Cala a second or two to figure out what was going on, when she heard the sound of a motorcycle engine right next to her. She turned her head to find Daeus wearing his suit, sitting on a motorcycle, ready to push it to full speed.

"I don't think I need to tell you what to do..." he said, a sly look in his eyes that made her heart flutter for some reason. The two got a few glances from numerous pedestrians.

Without a word, she swung herself behind him, holding on tightly with one hand and reaching for her gun with the other. Just as she pulled it out from her belt, the motorcycle was already speeding down the dusky street.

As they rushed down the road, she noticed that Daeus was very warm, and that comforted her, to the point where she realized that she wouldn't mind sharing his body heat forever. She immediately took it back, knowing that he was her partner at the facility and nothing else.

The wind whisked her hair our of her face, clearing her vision for her to get a good shot at the man. He seemed to be capable of anything, kind of like her, but enhanced.

Turning a sharp corner, she was allowed a clear shot and used that fraction of a second to try and slow him down. Somehow, with all her skills, she missed him narrowly.

"Shit!" she hissed.

"Keep shooting, maybe you'll get him," Daeus called out over his shoulder.

"It won't work," she said, leaning into him so he could hear over the loud breeze. "He's too fast..." She seemed to daze out, noticing that she wasn't only capable of feeling his warmth, but she could also smell him.

He had a warm scent, a mixture of vanilla, a summer breeze and freshly dried laundry. A scent that gave her an image of some sort of paradise. A scent that reminded her of home, the only place she'd ever felt safe before all of this. Her mind was trailing, again, and she had to stop it.

Shanking her head to get rid of those thoughts, she picked up where she left off a few moments ago. "What happens if he decides to slide into a building?" she continued.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen..." he answered. Just as he said it, the man they were chasing down did exactly what Cala had predicted, running into a tall building, approximately 8 stories high. "Or maybe it will... Holy fuck are you _insane_!?"

Cala had acted before she had realized what was going on. Somehow, she had stood up on a moving motorcycle, jumped off, and landed safely, getting up almost immediately and breaking into a sprint. Daeus was quick to do the same and run after her, letting the motorcycle fly away on its side.

She ran up the stairs, two steps at a time, not tired whatsoever, with only one goal in mind. Get to the man before he could escape. She could see the tip of his coat at every turn, and that drove her to run up the stairs even faster.

She wasn't aware of a familiar presence behind her. Daeus was struggling to keep up with her, and he couldn't help himself but think negative thoughts. What if he couldn't get to the two in time? What if something happened to them? What if something happened to Cala? What if she got hurt? What if she _died_?

Fear struck him as he imagined her lifeless body on the ground. Although he had seen death way too many times, he didn't know why he was scared. He was certain that he cared for her, just as much as he cared for his brother, but something inside him was telling him that this wasn't it.

He had mixed feelings for her, that was for sure, but was he falling for her? Was she the one who would render him sane? Was she the one who would finally make him genuinely happy?

Pushing all of this away, he forced himself to speed up the stairs to get to her. Now that she was in his line of sight, he was less worried. Suddenly, she rammed into a door, obligating it to swing open, and continued her chase after the man on that floor.

She had kept count of the floors as she ran up, and right now, they were on the 7th. The man seemed to speed up before turning into a room and shutting the door behind him, getting more distance between the two. Crashing through the door, Cala froze, dead in her tracks. He had disappeared.

Or so she thought.

"Did you really think I would let you get away?" she heard someone say. Turning around, she saw the man that she was chasing step out from the shadow the door had created. And to make matters worse, he was pointing a gun straight at her forehead.

Cala had a plan. It wasn't a good one, but it was her only one. She knew there was a large window behind her, and she knew that she was on the 7th floor, but she didn't know how she would manage to survive.

She started backing up slowly, and the man started advancing, taking a more menacing stance. Closing in the distance between her and the window, she tried not to crack under the pressure he was forcing on her. She reached a distance of a meter between her and the window. Then, three things happened at once.

One, she turned around abruptly. Two, Daeus appeared in the doorway. Three, she threw herself at the window, smashing it and ending up falling out.

Daeus had just enough time to capture the man's image through his contacts before running past him and jumping out after her. She was smart enough to keep her arms out to make some resistance, so if he put himself in an aerodynamic position, he would get to her faster.

The shock from the glass made Cala black out for a second. The next thing she knew, someone familiar was holding her waist with one arm and her shoulders with another, forcing her to dig her head into their chest. Their grip was so tight, she took a deep breath out of surprise and caught a whiff of vanilla mixed with laundry detergent. She immediately realized that Daeus had caught her in midair, and now they were falling, head first, from the 7th floor of a building.

Like usual, Daeus was counting in his head, and when it was time, he pressed a button on his belt. But this time, a wire didn't shoot out. He didn't have time to waist, and he knew his gear wasn't working, so he improvised.

In a matter of milliseconds he changed his grip to protect her head, and turned his body sideways so that they would absorb the collision. He winced, bracing himself.

The two crashed onto the pavement somewhat safely, rolling for a good while to brush off the impact. When they slowed down, they knew that people would be surrounding them pretty soon. Coming to a stop, Daeus found himself on all fours on top of her. He was pretty overwhelmed, and the only way he could let it out was to yell.

"Are you crazy?" he shot.

"What did you want me to do?" she shot back.

"You jumped out of a fucking _window_ without any means of protecting yourself!"

She let out a single hysterical laugh. "Would you rather I die by risking my life to _save_ myself?" He flinched. "Or would you rather I die by being _shot_ in the _face_ and not having _tried_ to save myself?"

He glared at her. All this talk about her dying was pissing him off. He pushed himself up. "Get up." He didn't bother to give her a hand. He started walking, not bothering to make sure she was following either. He soon sensed her close behind, and he could relax a little.

 **TWO HOURS LATER**

Taking the last swig from his second bottle of beer, Daeus was trying to clear his mind. The alcohol helped him a little, but it also brought back some unwanted memories.

A third bottle was waiting for him on the coffee table in front of him. He looked at it, sighed, and took it, popping it open. He slumped back onto the couch. Before taking a sip, he stared at his bare torso for a little, seeing a well built wall of muscles, wondering why he didn't have a beer belly yet.

He brought the bottle to his mouth, forgetting about the world, remembering his brother, his time at juvy, his rage.

 **TEN MINUTES LATER**

He heard a knock on the front door, pulling him out of his misery. Whoever was behind the door tried opening it, surprised to find it unlocked. Daeus had forgotten to lock it.

"Daeus... I can't sleep..." he heard Cala say from where she was standing. She could see him slumped on the couch, holding a bottle of sorts in his hand. He chugged down what was left from it and stood up slowly. Walking towards her, her heart started racing. He wasn't wearing a shirt, meaning that she could see obviously strong muscles.

"I'm coming over," he said with a determined look on his face that hinted her that what he was drinking was alcohol. He passed her and walked from his apartment to hers. Walking behind him, Cala noticed a tribal tattoo on his back, the top of it trailing up to the nape of his neck.

Sitting down on her couch, Daeus noticed what she was wearing and started feeling funny on the inside. Black skinny jeans that shaped her long legs, a huge white oversized shirt whose collar draped down her back, a burgundy bandeau under her shirt. She looked stunning, a bit more than her usual self, but that was probably because of the liquor.

Walking up to join him, she noticed that one of her shoelaces was untied. She bent over to tie it again, and Daeus caught a glance down her shirt. It took him all his willpower to keep calm, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't.

Cala stood back up, remembering something she needed to do. She made her way over to the kitchen. A minute passed before she felt five things at once.

One, she felt something tug at the back of her shirt. Two, she felt a warmth pressed against her back. Three, she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist. Four, she felt something against the top of her head. Five, she smelled a mixture of vanilla and freshly washed laundry.

Daeus had managed to slither into her shirt, sharing the neck hole, his bare chest pressed against her almost bare back. She was pretty sure he was drunk. She put down what she was doing and let him turn her around, steadying her with the counter. She slipped her hands out of the arm holes, and now they rested on his hips.

He freed an arm so he could tip up her chin. "For fucks sake Cala, can't you be more beautiful than you already are?" Her heart was pounding. His pale purple eyes stared at her with a foggy look in them. She desperately wanted to kiss him, just to know what it felt like to kiss someone who was both extremely handsome and extremely drunk.

She didn't need to ask. The next thing they knew, the shirt was gone, they were walking to the living room and the were making out. Daeus was debating whether this was what she wanted or not, but eventually put that aside.

The two toppled onto the couch, chest pressed against chest with insisting, desirable, urgent, sloppy kisses. Daeus was an amazing kisser, and that could eventually become a problem, especially when they were already starting to memorize each other's bodies. After a long while of breathing through their noses, Daeus broke away to breath properly.

"No," Cala half murmured with a sly smile that got him even more high than he was. She pulled down his chin, forcing him to duck his head to kiss her again.

 **THE NEXT DAY**

Cala's eyes fluttered open. The last thing she remembered, she was making out with Daeus. Looking around, she realized that she was still on the couch, and so was he. His arm was wrapped around her waist, his other arm resting under her neck. He was still half naked, and so was she, but at least the touch of skin against skin kept her warm.

From his breathing, she could tell that he was sound asleep, and he probably had a hangover. She decided to make him a cup of coffee, knowing that he'll wake up soon after she would have left.

Slithering out from under his arm, she picked up her shirt and walked to the kitchen. There, she turned on the coffee machine and got working, putting her shirt back on in the process. When the cup was finished, she put it down next to the small end table beside the couch, and left the room quietly, making her way to the first floor.

There, she was greeted by Franz, who she wanted to ask a question.

"Hey Franz," she said, somewhat cheerfully.

"Hi Cala... How did you find your first mission in the field?" he said.

She paused, remembering the events that had lead up to her partner making out with her. "Can we go into detail on that later? I need you to fill me in on something else first..."

"Alright, what do you need?" he asked.

"Well, last night I had trouble falling asleep... So I went over to Daeus's to see if he could occupy me and found him drinking... I'm pretty sure he's got a hangover now cause he was on his third bottle when I poked my head into his apartment..."

Franz took a deep breath. "Why don't you come over to my apartment... This one is gonna take a while and I'm pretty sure you should sit down for this..."

"Um..." Just as she was about to say yes, he motioned for her to follow, leading her to the second floor and entering a room. His apartment was very similar to every other one in the facility, but what made his unique, was the numerous bean bags in the living room instead of a couch. He flopped onto a yellow bean bag. Cala dropped into a black one.

"Listen, Cala, what I'm going to tell you right now is extremely serious. I don't want you to tell Daeus that we had this conversation unless he decides to bring it up. This is a very sensitive subject, do you understand?" His face was dead serious.

"What is it?" She couldn't help herself but be curious.

"The reason he drinks is because he lost his older brother when he was 16. He started drinking around a year after I took him in and started this branch..."

"Took him in?"


	6. Chapter 6 - Bygone

**SIX YEARS AGO**

"Try it again Daeus," his brother said.

"Goddamnit Caido!" he answered, repeating the move for the millionth time, and not getting it right.

"Being pissed off with knives in your hands doesn't get you anywhere..." Caido said.

"Well bumping me up from normal sparring to fighting with knives isn't the best idea either..."

"Just trust me, okay? Calm down, start from a sprint and try it again."

Daeus took a deep breath, the deepest breath a 16 year old could take, and walked backwards to get some distance. When he was far enough, he focused on his brother, who seemed to be a little dot in the distance. He broke into a sprint. Reaching a reasonable distance, he lunged forward, his right arm following his movement, nearly tearing the fabric of Caido's short. With the other, he brought it up to his stomach sideways, with no intention of hurting him.

Finally, he used the momentum he had created to raise his right arm to Caido's neck, the blade supposedly stopping inches from it.

But it didn't. Caido dropped to the ground, clutching his neck, blood pulsating from his wound, spraying everything around the siblings.

"I think you got it..." Caido half whispered with a chuckle.

All Daeus could do was stare. Blood seeped from in between his brother's fingers, spurting with every heartbeat. Ripping himself away from Caido and dropping the knives, he sprinted to get some help.

"DAD!" he shrieked as he ran. " _DAD_!" He found his father in the house, busy with something or another.

"What!?" his father spat.

"Caido's hurt dad, and we need to help him!" Daeus rushed.

"I'm not helping you," he answered coldly and plainly.

"WHAT?"

"I'll go help him when I'm finished..."

"HE'S GOING TO BLEED OUT!" Daeus was already crying. That was all it took for his father to jump out of his chair and run past the child that he didn't care about. This simple action reminded Daeus of why his life was shitty.

His mother didn't survive his birth. Her body wasn't capable of having more than one child, and if she were to have one, it would have a defect of some sort, and she wouldn't make it through. He was technically a miracle. Luckily, his defect, which were his eyes, weren't extremely obvious. But sadly, he was a hated miracle.

He turned around and sprinted after his dad. When Caido was in his sight, his father was already trembling.

Caido, his son, his only son, was dead, his neck sliced open. He fell to his knees, caressing his son's head, tears pouring down his cheeks. Little did he know that Daeus was close behind, crying as well, hating himself.

His father turned to him, a death stare in his eyes. "Leave us. Leave, and don't take anything with you. Don't even try coming back."

Daeus's heart, already twisted with agony, was violently ripped in half at those words. He stared at his father, horror swimming in his eyes. Did his father just kick him out?

Breaking down more that he though was possible at the time, he turned around and ran. He didn't know where he would go. Crashing into the house, he went straight to his room, grabbed a bag and stuffed a change of clothes in there, cramming in his phone as well.

He charged out, the image of Caido's body burning into his mind. He could have sworn he saw his father keeping an eye on the house.

After a good while of running, maybe about half an hour, he slowed down, knowing that going any further wouldn't help.

Nearing dusk, he noticed that the number of officials in the city were suddenly increasing. Then, he got a text. It was from his father.

' _What I've done is for your own good_.'

He pondered the message, running his hand through his currently short, somewhat wavy blonde hair. He decided to put it aside for now and focus on finding somewhere to sleep.

 **EIGHT DAYS LATER**

Over the week, Daeus realized that his dad had alerted the cops for what he'd done, rendering him a fugitive. Over the week, he decided to grow out his hair. Over the week, he had texted a friend at school, telling him that he had dropped out.

That day, they caught him. After eight successful days of staying hidden, they had managed to find him under the impression that he had killed his brother and ran. He had obviously struggled to get away, not wanting to go to juvenile, but he was outnumbered.

During the interrogation, he felt as if they were accusing him, and he knew that it wasn't a murder. That got him to flip, doing his best to convince the officers that it was an accident. The cops eventually made their decision.

They closed the case, knowing it was an accident, but threw him into juvenile since it was still a murder, and to top that, he was showing signs of severe mental trauma, rendering him extremely unstable.

 **A MONTH LATER**

His time at juvy only made matters worse. He was becoming more and more aggressive, and was getting into more and more fights. Soon, he was known as 'the crazed blond kid' amongst everyone. They all mocked him, mostly for his eyes, which was why they labeled him crazed in the first place.

All but one, who called him by his first name. She was the only one there who admired his eyes.

"You should be proud of them you know," the fourteen year old girl told him one day. "You see the world differently..."

The girl's name was Rhea, but she's rather be called Arsenic, or just Sen for short.

She and Daeus became great friends very quickly. In a matter of about three or four months, he was pretty sure he had fallen for her. But there was one thing that wouldn't let him make a move.

Her childhood was way worse than his. When Rhea was twelve, her body was violated. A group of sick bastards had managed to drug and kidnap her. And every single one of them got a turn at raping her.

This screwed up trauma rendered her insane, to the point where she would enjoy killing people. And that's what got her into juvy. Her trauma also made her extremely self conscious, getting her to hate herself, and getting her to hate everyone around her.

She would seem cold to everyone, but she only did it to protect herself. The only person she ever opened up to, was her purple-eyed friend. He was the only one who respected her for what happened to her.

 **FIVE MONTHS LATER**

During his sixth month in juvy, Daeus got into a fight with another teenager. An official stepped in to break the two teenagers apart, but Daeus was already consumed by rage. Somehow, he managed to disarm the guard, and was about to use his weapon against him, when someone addressed him.

"Amadaeus, I believe that's enough for the day, don't you think?"

Daeus turned around to see who had just used his full name, letting the official go, and was somewhat surprised. A tall man, almost his height, with short blonde hair and hazel eyes was staring at the two, almost as if he was evaluating them.

"Come with me... I've got something to talk to you about..." the man told him.

Daeus put down the weapon and followed him hesitantly, getting a few stares from everyone around him. The man brought him outside to sit with him before starting the conversation.

"Daeus, my name is Franz, and I'm here to offer you a job..." he said.

"Why would a crackpot like me need a job?" Daeus answered.

Franz crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. "I know what you've been through, and I believe that what happened will be a great advantage to you..."

"You can't possibly know what happened..." Daeus said coldly.

"I have my ways kiddo, I know exactly what happened."

"Then what do you want?"

"I need you to join my team."

That was all it took to capture Daeus's interest. "Where?"

"In the CIA." Franz received a look from the kid. "I've recently been granted permission to branch out, and I'm looking for recruits. I saw the way you handled the guard, and I believe that you could be amazing after your training."

A pause. "So, you want me to join the CIA?"

"It's not just the CIA Daeus... What I'm trying to create is some sort of vigilante group. One that kills for justice if that makes sense..."

"You want me to be an assassin?"

"If that's how you see it, then yes."

Another pause. "Do I have to give you my final opinion now?"

Franz smiled and pulled out a card from his pocket. "Call me when you've decided. Shaft is yes, no shaft is no."

Daeus took it, nodding, and stood up with Franz. As he walked away, Daeus could have sworn he heard Franz talk to someone.

"The bait has been taken. Denver is now established."

 **A WEEK LATER**

Daeus stared at the phone in his hand. He was going to use his only call today, and he was going to call Franz. He picked it up and dialled the number, not bothering to pull out the paper, for he had memorized the number and shredded it.

He answered almost immediately. "Hello?"

"It's Daeus..." the kid said.

"Shaft or no shaft?"

"Shaft." he answered with confidence.

A pause from Franz's end. "Your situation has been acknowledged Daeus."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to have to pick you up if you want to go down the shaft..."

"O-okay..." With that, Franz hung up.

An hour later, Daeus was sprinting down the hall, Franz by his side, ready to cram him into a black minivan. They made it outside, hopped in and drove off as fast as they could.

His ride didn't last long. He had asked Franz if he could get a tattoo when they got there, and his mentor told him he could do anything he wanted to when they arrived.

 **ABOUT A YEAR LATER**

Daeus turned out to be just as Franz had predicted: flawless. Hacking into the juvenile that had kept him there a little over six months, he went through the list of prisoners. It was that day he learned that his only friend there had been released not too long ago.

He desperately wanted to see her again, so he decided to ask Franz if he could add her to the group.

He was hesitant to let her join, for the simple purpose that she was only fifteen, but when Daeus had informed him about what had happened to her, he decided to put her age aside, knowing that she'll end up as flawless as Daeus, and maybe even more.

After all, every single one of them was severely traumatized, and that could be a good thing.

 **THREE YEARS LATER**

Daeus was now 20 years old, and had just gotten a large tribal tattoo across his shoulder blades. He had insisted that the artist made it trail up his neck, wanting to make it in honour of his older brother.

Sen was now 18 years old, and was the best in the group - so far. She had managed to get a falling feather tattooed behind her right ear, something to symbolize her freedom, or the freedom she always wanted to have. To help her calm down, Franz had suggested she start meditating, and it worked wonders for her.

Two new people had joined the group over those three long years.

One of them was driven crazy by his parents. Ever since he could remember, he was abused, physically to the point of turture, and mentally to the point of insanity. When he was a teenager, his father had forced him to screw his mom, not once, but multiple times, resulting in self harm.

All of this made him lose it. He had a bit of difficulty keeping in his hysteria, and the only way he could do that was to be indifferent about almost everything. But when it was let out, he was transformed, a demonic smile crossing his face, followed by a psychotic laugh and unstable violence.

Getting a tattoo sleeve on his left arm helped remind him of the new life he had adopted, but also helped hide the scars that his knife had left behind. You could even say that Arcangelo, or Arc for short, had a dual personality, but that wasn't the case.

The other one to join had lost his little sister to Americans when he was a teenager. Shunsuke, the boy who wanted to preserve the Japanese culture, the boy who refused anything western, the boy who saw them slaughter a little girl, the boy who was an orphan from the beginning, the boy who had survived.

When his little sister was born, his parents had both practiced hari-kari, since they wanted another boy. He wasn't able to figure out why her name was a western one, but Eli seemed to suit her. That was the only reason he let people call him Shawn, for the simple purpose of having to spell out Shun for them, and for Eli's sake.

 **TWO YEARS LATER**

Another member was taken in, not because he was crazy, but because he wanted to do some good to the world. Unfortunately, what he wasn't quick to pick up on, was that the only way to survive was to fight, and only the insane were able to fight to the standard. And that's what got Toni killed.

The final member to be taken in, was a beautiful college girl that seemed to be capable of everything, despite having seen her parents die violent deaths. And her name was Cala Brogs.

 **PRESENT DAY**

"Oh my god..." she said, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

"I'm sorry, but it's the truth, and I felt the need to let you know..." he answered, somewhat regretting what he had just told her.

"What?" Cala wasn't sure if Franz was implying something, or if he knew something he wasn't supposed to.

"I felt that I should warn you not to get too close to him, since he's still pretty unstable..."

She didn't know how to answer to that. Did he mean that she should keep a distance from Daeus? Or that she shouldn't get personal with him? What about those times when her heart would start pounding at the sight of him? What was all that about? Why didn't she freak out to what he had done the night before?

"Okay..." she said, standing up. "Thanks for the warning..." She said lamely. Then she walked out of his apartment without anything else.


	7. Chapter 7 - Target

"This is the man who you two chased in the streets a week ago," Arc said, motioning to Cala and Daeus while showing the rest of the group his file. "His name is Olek Romanyuk, he is Ukrainian, not Russian. He has a long history of crimes before having joined Sequi, although he is one of their best. If we were to kill him, we would have a great advantage, for Sequi would be weaker."

"So what's the plan?" Franz asked. "He seemed to know who to target, since he did walk straight up to Cala..."

"We can wait for him to come to me, then we could capture or kill him..." Cala suggested.

"That's a good idea, but that might also get you killed..." Arc pitched in.

"Why doesn't she just track him from far away?" Daeus said.

"I could do that... Check in every two hours or so..." Cala answered.

"So now all we have to do is wait for him to bubble up to the surface, right?" Sen asked.

"Yes," Franz said.

 **FOUR WEEKS LATER**

Five weeks have passed since Cala learned about Daeus's brother. Putting aside the fact that he may be a psychopath, she had developed something for him, and was hoping that he felt the same way.

But, to her disadvantage, Daeus didn't remember the events after his second bottle of beer. And she didn't want to fill him in on what he had done either, for the simple purpose of not losing him.

What Cala didn't know, was that he felt the same way as she did. Upon waking up on her couch, half naked, feeling a lost presence on him, a sweet aftertaste in his mouth, a splitting headache, a cup of coffee waiting for him on the table, he was able to deduce that they had gotten carried away. And he wanted more.

He wanted to remember it the next time, that is if she didn't hate him for what had happened. He wanted to kiss her without the push alcohol usually gave him. He wanted to get touchy-feely only driven by her image. He wanted to be clearheaded when one thing would start leading to another and they would find themselves exhausted half an hour later.

Another mission was to be executed in a few minutes. Cala needed to track another suspect in the field, to see who he would interact with, checking in every two hours, just like they had planned.

Sitting down in the minivan, Arc gave her the signal to hop out and start walking. She gave Daeus a sharp stare, one filled with worry, before hoping out. Just as she closed the door behind her, she caught a glimpse of him staring back, telling her that she'll do fine.

She started walking, taking into account everything around her. A few buildings here and there, many pedestrians, the fact that she was equipped, the fact that the minivan was close to a residence.

After having kept her distance from the target for a good hour and a half, she decided to get closer. Nearing a safe stretch of space, she tried tapping into their conversation, but there were too many people around, meaning that if she were to listen, she would have to get even closer. She kept her position and waited. Then, out of the blue, the man she was tracking disappeared. She knew she hadn't taken her eye off him whatsoever.

All of a sudden, she felt a hand on her shoulder and was spun around quickly. To her utter surprise, Romanyuk and a few other men, including the one she was following, were right in front of her. They managed to grab her firmly, before she even knew what was going on, and drag her down an alley.

She was being kidnapped, that was certain, and to make matters even crazier than they were already, Cala felt something strong collide with her gut. She grunted and fell forward. A punch here, a punch there, a trail of blood here, a pool of blood there, Cala struggled to stay alive, not being able to handle them all.

Then, she saw a fist come up to her face and blacked out.

 **AN HOUR LATER**

"It's been more than two hours," Daeus said, worried.

"Maybe something went wrong with her transmitter..." Arc tried to assure him.

"Even if that were to happen, she would have found a way to check in. I know she would."

"Anything's possible.."

"Then why did our receiver fry after 90 minutes?" Daeus protested.

"I don't know man..."

Then it hit him. "She needs backup."

"What?"

"Where did it fry? Where was she?"

"In some alley not far from here... Why?"

Daeus was already in the driver's seat. "Pull up the coordinates."

"O-okay..." Arc got to work. "Got them. Drive and I'll tell you where to go."

The minivan started speeding down the road, the two charging to where she was scarcely alive not even sixty minutes ago.

They pulled up in the span of five minutes. Daeus was already out of the van and walking toward something shining on the ground. Squatting down to pick it up, his chest tightened. In his palm was Cala's necklace, the one that she rarely took off. A silver flower, a pink gem in the centre, hanging from a sliver chain.

He stuffed the pendant into his pocket and examined the ground. Blood was spilled, that was certain, but the way it was spread out indicated him that there had been a fight. His eyes wandered over to a trail of blood that lead to the end of the alley and continued behind a building, into a small forest. The trail's formation made him assume that the body was dragged, but the thickness of the trail told him that the victim was still alive.

He started following the trail, knowing that he would find her there, but also knowing that he would find trouble there as well.

 **HALF AN HOUR LATER**

Cala woke up. The last thing she knew, she was being beaten in an alley. Her face was throbbing, probably form a punch that blacked her out. She tried bringing her hand up to feel her face for any bruises, but soon realized that her hands were tied down, and her middle was sore.

Panic washed over her and she was suddenly aware of what was going on. She was in a dark room, sitting in a wooden chair, disarmed, slightly off the centre of the room, her ankled tied to the feet of the chair, her wrists tied to the arms of the chair and a piece of cloth in her mouth. She didn't bother struggling, for she knew that it would be useless. She glanced down and saw that she was bleeding.

She heard a door open and footsteps coming over to her. The faint light in the room told her that this person wasn't here to help her. They came up to her and stopped. She shut her eyes, feeling heavy breathing on her face. A hand came up and gripped her jaw, causing her to freeze. She refused to open her eyes. A sudden light flashed her in the face. She shut her eyes even tighter to spare them.

"You're really cute aren't you..." a man's voice said. Terror boiled her blood. It was Romanyuk. "Long black hair... A freckled face... Why don't you open your eyes to show me what colour they are..." She didn't dare to move a muscle. "If you don't want to show me, why don't you tell me what colour they are?"

The light went away, causing her an even bigger pain. She felt fingers working the piece of fabric out of her mouth. She debated whether she should bite his hand when he freed her, but she decided not to, since it would be useless as well. As soon as her mouth was empty, she used it.

"Get away from me," she hissed. The man laughed.

"You're a feisty one..."

"Fuck you." His grip tightened on her jaw, and this time, her eyes flew open.

"Oh look, your eyes are a pretty pale blue... Isn't that nice..."

"I told you to get away from me, motherfucker."

"As you wish, whore." He flung her head away, almost snapping her neck. She felt a numbing pain throughout her whole body. The whiplash he had created pinched a nerve in her neck, bringing down her level of consciousness. She had avoided death once, but will she be able to do it again, now that she might bleed out from her gut... She felt a hand on her collarbone. It wiggled its way down her shirt, grabbing a hold of her boob.

She knew she couldn't do anything, to make him stop, so all she did was shut her eyes again and let a tear fall down her cheek. She felt a weight on her thighs. The man was sitting in her lap, fondling her. She felt something cold on her mouth. He was kissing her.

She tried pulling back but it was useless, and it hurt. He imprudently stuck his tongue in her mouth. Now, she tried struggling. He pulled back briefly.

"If you struggle, it won't be as fun..." he said. He leaned in for another sloppy 'kiss', but stopped when he heard something fall in a corner.

 **A FEW MINUTES EARLIER**

Daeus had managed to find Cala's location. It was a small house, surrounded by some sort of security. He had to get in there, and the only way to do that was to go through them.

"Arc, I need you to confirm if all the windows on that house are sealed," he whispered to the mic attached to his shirt.

"No problem..." He had to wait a minute. "They're all shut tight... What are you going to do?" He ignored his friends question.

"You'll see..." He pulled out a smoke grenade from his pocket and a gun from his belt. He pulled the pin and threw the grenade.

It landed in the middle of the cluster of guards, exploding almost on contact with the ground. He had well timed his throw, and now he was scurrying past the men, holding his breath. He found the door unlocked, stepped in and shut it quickly. He took a breath and help up his gun. He didn't know where to go, so he waited, walking down the entrance hallway slowly. Then he heard someone speak in a room. Their voice sounded familiar to him, but he had to check with Arc first.

"You're really cute... Long black hair, a freckled face... Why don't you open your eyes to show me what colour they are?" He used his mic to send Arc a message in morse. 'Can you identify him for me?' He was at the door shortly. He opened it silently and slipped into the room. He shut the door quietly behind him. "If you don't want to show me, why don't you tell me what colour they are?"

He wasn't bad at seeing in dim places, but this room had no windows, and there was only the faint light coming from a candle of two in the opposing corner on the room. When the person the man had been talking to spoke, Daeus was hit by a wave of dread.

"Get away from me," he heard Cala say. He immediately put away his gun, scared that he might miss and shoot her.

"You're a feisty one..."

"Fuck you." She squeaked. His heart had tightened at the sight of her. She was beaten and strapped to a wooden chair, a man holding her jaw, trying to give her compliments. And on top of that, her middle was bleeding, most likely what had caused the trail of blood.

"Oh look, your eyes are a pretty pale blue... Isn't that nice..." _They're grey_ , Daeus thought, _but only I'd know that from the countless times I've stared into them_.

"I told you to get away motherfucker."

"As you wish, whore." He flung her head backwards. It leaned back to such an extent that Daeus thought the man had just snapped her neck. He was losing someone close to him again, and he didn't want that to happen. He focused on Cala, and was extremely relieved when he saw her chest rise and fall.

The man stared at her chest as well. Then, his hand touched her collarbone and found its way into her shirt. Daeus wanted to kill the man for putting his filthy hands on her. He noticed that she was crying. The man sat down in her lap. Then he put his filthy mouth on hers. Daeus was ready to kill him. Cala struggled a little.

"If you struggle, it won't be as fun..." The man said. Daeus shuffled into a corner while the man leaned in for another filthy thing to do. Daeus pulled out his gun and dropped it. The man froze and waited a bit before getting off of Cala. Daeus silently made his way over behind the man.

"Who's there?" the man asked to nothing, sounding terrified.

"Your death..." Daeus said. The man turned around and attempted a punch, but Daeus was too quick, and he dodged it swiftly, grabbing a hold of his arm and putting him in a headlock, while spinning him to the ground and digging his knee into his back so he wouldn't get away. The man tried struggling, but it was no use to him.

"Who are you?" he managed with the limited amount of air that was getting to his lungs.

"Can't tell you, sorry..." He knew he had to put away his concern for Cala to be clearheaded so he could fight the man. "How about I ask you a question?"

"What do you want?" The man breathed.

"Are you working for the black market?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because your answer could save your life..." The thing was, Daeus already knew the answer.

Even though Cala was somewhat out of it, she could tell that Daeus was around, and that he was going to save her. She hadn't seen him acting so dark before, but it was probably because he wasn't at ease with her in pain.

"Yes..."

"Sorry, but that wasn't what I was looking for..." he informed the man, hauling him up to his feet by his hair and wrapping his arm around his neck. Arc had already answered him, telling him that he was able to identify him by his voice, and that he was in fact Olek Romanyuk.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm going to kill you for touching her, you piece of filth." Daeus tightened his grip around the mans neck. Twelve long seconds went by before his body went limp. He let go of the man and made his way over to Cala. He found her head and held it with both hands.

"Cala, Cala, Cala, Cala..." He already had tears in his eyes. She wasn't responding. He pressed back the tears. "You're safe now Cala, I'm here..."

Cala heard his voice and was snapped back into reality. She heard him tell her that she was safe now that he was here. She smiled faintly.

"Daeus..." she whispered. The room was pitch black since the candles had gone out when the man had died. His hopes went up when he heard her call his name.

"I was scared I was going to lose you too..." It was only while watching the other man rape her that he realized why he wanted to protect her so much. And it wasn't just because she was his partner in the CIA. He loved her, but because of what he had done five months ago, he wasn't able to tell her. He could feel her breath, meaning that his face was inches from hers. He took his chance.

Cala knew that he was really close again, closer than ever. But this time, she wanted to get even closer, to feel even more secure. She felt something soft and warm touch her lips. She let her eyes close. Daeus was kissing her, expressing himself. And she loved him for that. She kissed him back, but lightly.

"Um... Daeus..." he heard Arc's voice in his hear. "You might want to take out your contacts..." He pulled away from her.

"Ah, shit..." he mumbled, blushing. She wasn't surprised when he pulled back. In fact, she was sort of expecting it. Arc had probably told him something. She felt his hands at her ankles, untying her from the chair. He finished her feet and began untying her wrists.

"No..." she said.

"What's wrong?" he stopped.

"Don't untie my wrists Daeus..." He let go and found himself exactly where he was before, breathing her air.

"Why not? We have to leave, don't we?"

"It's better this way..." She was confusing him.

"What?" He untied one of her wrists.

"Don't leave me Daeus..." she muttered. That was all he understood. She started murmuring some things to herself. He had to get even closer to understand her. Arc was smart enough to turn off his end of the line.

"I'm not going anywhere... Why are you concerned about me leaving?" He cupped her head between his hands again. She didn't want him to leave, nor did she want to leave this place. She was perfectly fine right were she was, with Daeus, their faces an inch apart. But even then she could be happier.

Really all she wanted to do was kiss him, over and over and over again, and maybe get carried away and do God knows what, but as long as his lips were on hers, she was peaceful.

She stuck out her neck an inch further and their lips met again. She had taken him off guard, and she was proud of that. They kissed each other, over and over, just like she wanted, but it wasn't enough.

She wanted him even closer, and the only way to do that, was to pull him closer. She put her free hand on his head and pulled him closer, letting out a long, deep moan. She hadn't noticed that he had managed to untie her other wrist until she realized that her both her arms were wrapped around his head. She pulled back.

"You untied me..." she said, disappointed.

"We have to go..." he answered. The way he said it made Cala think he was hating himself. He started to stand up when she yanked on his neck, stopping him.

"Wait."

"Now what?"

"Are you drunk?"

He frowned. "No..."

"Thank god..."

A moment passed before she stood up. "Why did you ask?" he said, holding her hand.

"You were drunk last time... Franz told my why you were drunk... And I want you to promise me that you won't die..."

He pulled her into a hug, protecting her with his arms. "I'm not going to die... Not while you're around... I've tried to kill myself before... Not once, but 35 times..." He let go of her, keeping an arm around her so they could walk out somewhat safely, scooping up his gun in the meantime.

"Turns out the fish I caught is a crazy suicidal one that loves me..." Cala muttered under her breath. Daeus heard her and smiled, but his bubble of happiness was burst by his training.

He heard someone talk and was suddenly in survival mode, holding up his gun. "Come on, we have to go, now." He started pulling her along. She winced at the sudden tug and pulled back.

"I'm bleeding you idiot," she said, leaning on the wall and clutching her middle. It hasn't gotten better, and blood started to seep through her fingers. Daeus realized that she couldn't continue on her own, so her walked over and scooped her up, holding her in a bridal and breaking into a run.

"We're gonna have to take a break after this..." he said while jogging out of the house.

"That's a good idea..." she answered as he dodged a swarm of bullets. The next thing he knew, she had passed out, and he had to hurry to treat he wound.


	8. Chapter 8 - Lull

After having made it to the facility safely, Daeus asked Franz if he could take the next two weeks off, to try and ease off the stress that Cala's injury had given him. Franz gladly gave it to him, informing him that he could take her along if he wanted to.

Cala's wound turned out to be a mild stab, not enough to be life-threatening, but enough to make her lose a lot of blood. She was healing pretty quickly, and was surprised when Franz informed her that he was giving her two weeks off, and was allowing her to spend them with Daeus.

The two decided to bunker down on a remote island near Japan, one with a chalet and a few small hills.

Over the first week, they stared to get used to each other, becoming more comfortable with cuddling and spending time together. Eventually, they got used to their relationship, taking it one step further and realizing that they didn't have crushes on each other.

Over the second week, the times they would find themselves making out were more and more frequent, since Cala's wound was almost fully healed, and could handle it.

 **DAY 12**

The two were walking down a path when Daeus spotted the edge of a cliff. He decided to be sly, knowing that the water was really deep right under and there weren't any rocks. He swiftly picked up Cala in a bridal hold, surprising her.

"Put me down damnit, what are you doing?" she said just as he started running towards the edge. He grinned when she tried struggling. She realized that he was running to the edge and started freaking out. "What the fuck are you doing!?" He was almost there. "DAEUS!" He slowed his body but threw his arms forward, sending her flying off the edge.

Cala was screaming at the top of her lungs, petrified that Daeus just tried to kill her. She was panicking, not like her usual self. Falling, she realized that the water was perfectly safe. She braced herself for the impact.

It took her half a minute to return to the surface. Still overwhelmed and gasping for air, she saw Daeus jump off as well, letting out an exuberant scream. It finally occurred to her that he was just trying to have some fun. He splashed her as he landed, making her laugh.

His head broke the surface, a wide grin on his face. He splashed her some more, and she splashed back, both on them having a blast, trying to get each other soaked even more than they already were.

When they started to get tired, Cala decided to try something different. She took a hold of his shoulders and pushed on them, submerging him underwater. She joined him a second later.

He had managed to take a breath before she shoved him underwater. The next thing he knew, something soft was pressed against his lips. Her hands traveled up his neck to rest in his hair. He realized that Cala was kissing him and brought up his arms to settle on her waist.

He opened his mouth to warm things up, but ended up swallowing water, forcing him to come back up for air. Coughing it up, Cala giggled. When his lungs calmed down, he glared at her sarcastically.

Her legs started to get tired from all the treading water she had done, so she started to swim back to the shore. Daeus followed her, deciding that his legs have had enough as well.

Walking up the beach to the chalet, they held hands, intertwining their fingers and bumping into each other with every second step they took.

"You know what I'd love to do right now?" Daeus said after a while.

"What?" she answered.

"Take a swig with you." Hearing him talk about alcohol with her surprised her.

"Well I don't drink..."

"Wanna try it? I was planning on doing something else too but it requires beer..."

"And that would be...?"

"Can't tell you. If you beat me to the house, I'll do it, but if I beat you, I won't say a word..." he said with a grin.

"Huh?"

He broke into a sprint, getting a head start. Cala didn't feel like running, especially after being thrown off a cliff. She kept her pace, ignoring Daeus's cheers to get her running. He acknowledged the fact that she didn't want to race and waited for her to join him.

In the chalet, Cala stripped down to her undergarments to hang up her clothes so they could dry. She sat down on the couch as Daeus dug through the fridge, eventually pulling out two bottles of whiskey. He walked over to the couch, ready to flop onto it, but decided otherwise when he saw Cala in her minimal wear.

Placing the bottles on the table next to the couch slowly, he took her lead and stripped down to his boxers, hanging up his clothes as well. Cala's heart started running when he came back, for she saw more muscle that she had expected to see. He joined her on the couch, slinging one arm across the back of the couch, and popped open a bottle, offering it to her. She took it hesitantly.

"Want to know what else I was planning on doing?" he said, popping open the other bottle and taking a sip.

"Sure..." she answered, debating whether she should go for it or not.

"Get drunk..."

"Um..."

He smiled. "I want to get drunk with you." He took another sip, a longer one this time.

"You can't be serious."

"I'm 100% serious." She looked down at her bottle, noting that hers was untouched, whereas Daeus's was already a quarter empty.

She gave it a thought first. What if she got a hangover? What would happen if she developed an addiction? Looking at Daeus, she thought of another aspect. What if they got carried away? They were both in their underwear after all... But then again, deep inside her somewhere, she wanted to get carried away, except she didn't know how she would manage that without a push.

She made her decision. "You know what, let's do it," she said, lifting the bottle up to her lips and chugging down half of it. It tasted disgusting, but she decided that that was normal. Separating from the bottle, she immediately felt a little dizzy.

"Not so fast..." Daeus chuckled. She looked at him and her heart started pounding. Did he get even more handsome? He smiled and drank some more. She felt pretty loose, so she let herself snuggle up against his chest. The effect of the liquor started to kick in for both of them, getting them to finish their bottles faster.

Handing Daeus her bottle, Cala felt different. She stood up, immediately regretting it, nausea taking over.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm just nauseous..." she said, walking over to the wall to balance herself by leaning on the wall with one hand.

"That's the whiskey kicking in," he said, standing up and walking up to her.

"Mmm..."

"Feel funny?" He was right next to her. She felt a chin rest on her shoulder and two arms wrap around her waist.

"A bit..." He turned his head to kiss her shoulder. She let out a small sigh. Being drunk amplified her senses.

"I think you're drunk." he half-whispered before working his way up her neck.

"What about you?" she managed as he nibbled on her ear lobe.

That must have sparked something, since he abruptly turned her around from the waist and pushed her against the wall with his hands. He stared into her eyes, seeing a beautiful pair of blue-grey orbs. She stared into his, the image of rare purple eyes burning into her mind.

Then, he impetuously pressed his lips against hers. She felt the room get warmer as a tongue prodded her lower lip, requesting permission. She granted it unwillingly, feeling his hands creep up her ribcage.

Cala pulled back, blushing a deep shade of pink, a shade that could only be evoked from alcohol. Daeus was also blushing madly, or at least Cala thought he was. Either way, his face was completely red.

"Too far?" he asked her.

"No, its just that..." she started, only to be cut off by having to stop him from kissing her again. "I don't want to go too far..."

He smiled. "Then let's change the subject." With that, he poked the side of her waist with two fingers, making her squirm. He had found her weak spot. Being drunk made everything better.

He kept on threatening to tickle her all the way to the bedroom. There, he shoved her onto the bed, successfully managing to tickle her, getting her to squeak and giggle, making her forget about her injury. He tried to grab a hold of her limbs but she wouldn't let him.

After a few tries, Daeus finally pinned Cala onto the bed. The inside of his knees were limiting her thighs movements. His hands wouldn't let her wrists move from above her head. They were both panting from the struggle she gave.

Both their breathing started to settle. He leaned in to steal a kiss, closing his eyes, and luckily, wasn't rejected this time. He knew she was happy, since he could feel the ligaments that lead to her fingers twitching under the palms of his hands.

They both tilted their heads ever so slightly to be able to deepen their kiss and share the taste of booze. Exploring each other's mouthes, his grip loosened a little. He was just about to tighten it, scared that she would pull away, but decided not to when he felt her legs wrap around his midsection.

He pulled her hands closer together, changing his grip from two hands to one. Now that one of his hands was free, he brought it down to caress her thigh, letting it wander up a little. She exhaled through her nose, tipping him a sigh and a positive response.

She started to squirm a little. Flipping onto his back, letting go of her wrists, she managed to take a hold of his head, running her fingers through his hair. His other hand wandered down to meet her other thigh.

Both his hands started drifting up. His fingers passed over the side of her butt, getting her to moan lightly. They kept going up, eventually finding her bra strap. As much as she was enjoying it, she still didn't want to get too carried away. She pulled back.

"Not today..." she whispered.

"Why not?" he half whispered, unhooking her, letting his hands wander up some more. He knew a few trigger points. He pressed a few, making her relax. "We're both drunk anyway..." He didn't want to let her explain. The direction in which they were going didn't seem like a bad one to him. He couldn't see why anyone wouldn't want to go that way.

Placing his mouth back on hers, he found another trigger point there, pressing on it. This time, she moaned pretty loudly, arousing him. Somehow, with some help, he managed to pull the bedsheets over them, missing a leg or two, but that was fine.

 **DAY 13**

Cala woke up, a warmth pressed to her back, fitting to her body perfectly. Unlike when she had woken up almost two months ago, this warmth was stronger. She turned around to find Daeus awake as well.

"Goodmorning beautiful," he said, leaning in to kiss her.

"Morning," she said before letting him do so.

He pulled away slowly. "How do you feel?"

"Good I guess... Although I'm tired and pretty sore..."

He yanked her closer so that their bare chests were pressed against each other. "I can fix that for you if you'd like..."

"I don't think I can handle it Daeus..." she answered, stroking his hair and staring at his lips.

"Liar..." he murmured. "You're telling me that you can handle what I do for a living, but you can't handle me?"

She sighed in frustration. "What I mean is that I don't want to today... Maybe when we get back?" She gave him puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," he grunted, grabbing a hold of her head. "But I don't want to see those eyes again."

"Why not?" She leaned into him.

"Because they make me feel things I shouldn't..." A pause. "Damnit I told you to stop." His lips connected with hers. Luckily, they knew when to stop this time.

They were lucky to have two bathrooms in the chalet, so they both got out of bed, grabbed their now dry clothes and left to take cool showers.


	9. Chapter 9 - Track

Cala and Daeus stepped into the airport. Instead of having rented a private jet, the two wanted to do something the way normal people would, so they decided to use 'public transportation'.

Standing in line to get through the customs, Cala's gut feeling told her something wasn't right. She knew that Sequi wasn't here, and she knew that she wasn't armed, so she didn't see why she should be nervous.

She tapped Daeus on the shoulder. "Am I the only one who's nervous right now..." she whispered.

"Probably, I mean, I don't see why you should be..." he whispered back. "We made it on the way here, so we should be able to make it back."

The person in front of Daeus passed the official, and now he was next. He stepped up to the booth, handed the man his passport and tickets, and waited. After a while, Daeus noted that the man was taking a while, so he took a good look at him, and realized that he was being examined.

Without taking his eyes off of him, the man reached over to the landline and pressed a button. "Number 736. Got him."

Cala heard the man say that, and knew that her gut feeling was right. A moment later, a few security guards were holding Daeus by the arms, ready to take him away.

"What's going on?" he asked them, somewhat oblivious to what was happening.

The official spoke. "Fake passport, contact lenses, hair extensions... You've got it nailed, don't you Caen?"

Daeus's eyes widened at what he thought was the mention of his older brother. "He's been dead for six years!" he protested, struggling.

"Do you have a dual personality?" the official asked sarcastically.

Daeus was freaking out, his mind deciding that he was going back to juvy. "That's not who I am!"

"Take him, he's giving me a headache." The guards proceeded to do what the official had told them to do, taking away a screaming Daeus, taking away a Daeus who was trying to fight, taking away a Daeus who wanted to see his girlfriend one more time.

Cala saw the whole thing. And she had resisted the urge of stepping in. She had refused to help him. She had refused to say something. She was even refusing to cry. What was happening to her?

She stepped up to the official, handed him her passport and ticket and stared at him. She was petrified that they'd take her as well.

"I don't understand people who want to fake their identities... Do you?" the official asked her as he stamped her passport. She couldn't speak, so she shook her head automatically.

 **TWO HOURS LATER**

Waiting for the plane to take off, Cala stared at her little screen, nothing going through her mind.

A mere 48 hours ago, she was thrown off a cliff. A mere 48 hours ago, she drank her first bottle of beer. A mere 48 hours ago, she had made out with him. A mere 48 hours ago, they had done the do.

The whole flight, Cala was basically depressed, not knowing what they would do to him, not knowing where he was, not knowing if he was even alive. All of this kept on torturing her mind, to the point where she started pulling out her own hair, impatient to get back to Denver.

After several hours that felt like years, the plane finally landed. Cala was desperate to find him, so she ended up running in the airport when she could. She didn't have much of a baggage, so booking it there while carrying it wasn't much of a problem. Her hurry also made her ignore the chilly December weather.

11:30 Colorado time. Barging into the lobby, covered in snow, she dropped her bag carelessly and marched up to the library. She found the book, yanked on it, and stumbled down the stairs. Sliding into the chair, she got working, only to be interrupted by Arc.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked, poking his head out from the stairwell.

"I'm doing your job for you," she answered, not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Huh?"

"Just shut up and help me," she said, typing in a few things on the keyboard.

Arc found a chair and pulled it over. "Who are you looking for exactly?"

"Daeus..."

"What? Where is he?"

"They took him at the airport, blaming him for a fake identity.. He flipped..."

"Oh my... Well, be happy I placed a tracking chip in both your suitcases before you two left... Scoot over and let me handle this..."

Arc took over, typing in some more on the keyboard, clicking things that didn't make sense to Cala, asking her questions that were irrelevant to her. But then he asked a specific question.

"So, anything special happen on your trip?" he asked, receiving a strong glare from his colleague.

For her, he had just gone too far. She knew exactly what he meant, and she didn't want to talk about it, so she ended up shoving him out of the chair and doing the rest of the work herself.

"What did I do...?" Arc said, rubbing his arm.

"Shut up." The satellite picked something up.

"But..."

"Shut. _Up_." Daeus's location was confirmed.

"Mongolia?"

Cala spun around in her chair. "Im going to need a truckload of money and another truckload of ammo."

"What are you going to do...?" Arc asked, slightly nervous from the way she was acting.

"I'm going to go to Mongolia, and I'm going to pick him up." She stood up.

"Are you _insane_?"

She started walking up the stairs. "I'd be if I were to stay here and do nothing."

He ran up behind her. "But it's guarded like crazy! And you don't even know where he is!"

"That's what the ammo is for, and yes, I'm insane to go there, and yes, I'll improvise the whole time. Although, if you could keep an eye on me, that would be great." She started skipping steps, leaving Daeus's best friend behind.

In the lobby, she narrowly avoided crashing into Arsenic.

"Your friend is in trouble by the way..." she shot back while charging up the stairs to her floor, not even bothering to take the stairs.

In there, she grabbed her suit, changed into it as fast as she could, and threw a huge brown trench coat overtop. She quickly made her way to the weapons room.

There, she strapped on a multi-gun belt, a double-sword holster on her back, knife holders near her calfs. She then strapped as many small knives as possible onto the inside of her coat, stuffed as many pistols as she could into her belt, two swords into her holster, as many blades blades in the holders as possible.

Now she was ready. She marched back to the lobby, only to be started at by the rest of her team.

"He must be in big trouble..." Arsenic said.

"He's stuck in Mongolia, and I'm going to go get him."

Arc barged into the room holding a large silver suitcase. "You should be fine." Four simple words that would be the last ones Cala would hear for a while. She took the suitcase and walked out.

Noon Denver time. She was surprised to learn that she actually knew how to fly a jet. She slid in and somehow, got going, taking off as if she had done it a million times. She had no idea in which direction she was going, so she trusted the GPS.

 **TEN HOURS LATER**

17:00 Mongolian time. She was nearing a place to land, and managed to do so, just like she had taken off. Stepping out, she took the suitcase with her and popped it open, revealing a lot of ammo and a lot of money. She filled up her guns and brought some extra mags with her.

She had a plan, for she already knew in which building Daeus was. She would use up all her ammo, not wasting bullets, then switch to hand to hand with her knives, then pull out her swords if needed, meaning that she would have to be precise, swift, and conserve her energy.

Walking up to the building, she shot three guards. 637 bullets left. Walking down her first hallway, she hit eight. 629 bullets left. The facility she was now in seemed to be aware that they were under attack, and started sending more and more people to her.

Ten minutes of shooting went by, her ammunition decreasing steadily. When the waves of officials were down, she had exactly 425 bullets left. She figured she should make her way to the control room and figure out where Daeus was from there.

She kept on going, shooting people here and there, her killing trance staying the same, her disgust for blood leaving her slowly. This is what it was to be an assassin. Not flinch at the sight of blood. Not care about corpses. No getting unfocused. Not stopping, no matter the circumstances.

By the time she reached the control room, she had 382 bullets left. She shot the ten guards, got a hold of a computer and started hacking, throwing an occasional knife at the occasional official who would step into the doorway. She located Daeus in a matter of minutes and started heading for him.

She decided to save the remaining 372 bullets for after she got him. Pulling out the knives from the bodies on the ground, she got moving.

A slit throat here, a knife caught there, she worked her way to Daeus, leaving a handful of knives behind.

In the meantime, Daeus sensed that something wasn't right. Putting aside his beaten body, he knew that he needed to escape, and if he didn't do it now, he would never be able to.

He managed to put out the two guards that were keeping an eye on him, and freed himself from his chair. Grabbing their guns, he left the room and started walking down a few hallways.

Soon, he heard gunshots, and they were pretty close. As he advanced to the hassle, he noticed that the amount was decreasing, meaning that someone was fighting them off. One last one before the weapons went silent. He turned the corner, and fell nose to nose with the last person he expected to see.

"What are you doing here!?" he said.

"Saving your ass," Cala answered.

"Goddamnit.

He hauled her closer, his lips crashing onto hers, starting a kiss that was definitely happening during the wrong time, but felt so good because of the stressful moment they were in. They broke apart almost as quickly as they started.

Daeus took his chance to examine a heavily armed Cala. Gorgeously dangerous, breathtakingly violent, blood beautifully splattered on her coat. If he were capable to love something like this, something was definitely wrong with him.

Suddenly, she took a hold of his wrist, charging down the hallway, yanking him along. He decided to help her out and kill off some guards, just to make their escape easier.

Once the two had successfully exited the building, Daeus insisted that they find somewhere to rest instead of flying back to Denver.

Over the next two hours, the two had managed to find new clothes and rent a pretty good hotel room.

It was 20:00 Mongolian time by the time they got settled into their room, and they had already managed to rearrange the furniture to their convenience.

Cuddled up against each other on the couch, sharing their warmth, the two sipped their hot cocoa while watching the snow fall outside.

"How did we manage to get out of there?" he muttered.

"Luck I guess..." she answered.

"And how are we spending time together now? We were in hell less than two hours ago..."

"Just shut up, okay? I don't want to talk about it..."

He tightened his grip around her. "What's up?"

"I didn't know what they were going to do to you... I guess this is how you felt when Sequi kidnapped me..."

He rubbed her arm, comforting her. "I see why you don't want to talk about it..."

"Mmhmm..." They went back to sipping hot cocoa in silence. After a while, Cala looked down into her cup only to find it empty. She let out a sigh.

"Now what?" Daeus asked her. She showed him her empty plastic cup. He chuckled and traded it with his, offering her the small amount that was left in it.

She took it, glad to have some more, but her hopes went back down when that was done as well. She carelessly dropped the cup on the ground and let her head fall onto Daeus's shoulder. He threw his cup aside as well, briskly sticking a finger under her chin to support it and turn her head towards him. She looked at him, confused.

"Sorry..." he said. "It's too peaceful here..." He dipped his head and kissed her. Her hand wandered up to cup his face.

Soft kisses that turned into hot pecks. Hot pecks that turned into suckles. Eventually, Daeus managed to get out from under her and stand up above her, still nipping on her upper lip while she nipped on his lower one, his legs trapping hers in place, his hands holding her head.

For Cala, the room temperature seemed to increase continuously with each heated kiss. She started to stand up as well, taking a hold of the hem of his shirt. They both became more insisting, munching on each others mouthes, making it harder to breathe, both of them wanting the same thing.

She leaned into him, letting her body weight push him backwards. Changing her grip on his shirt, she started to pull it up when he took over for her and slipped it off. Back to their hot and heavy make out session when she felt a hand tug at her pants. She did him a favour and pulled those down, throwing them somewhere in the room. It wasn't long before his pants and her shirt joined the ground.

They kept backing up while kissing each other ferociously, when Daeus felt something cold against his bare back. He had just found the wall, and realized that he wanted her even more. He turned around abruptly, ramming her into the wall, breaking away from her for a moment, only to be stared at with eager eyes that couldn't be ignored. Placing his mouth back on hers, they resumed their kisses that were becoming sloppier and extremely intense.

One of his hands started wandering down, eventually finding her knee and guiding her leg to his waist by feeling her thigh. Her lips were of no importance to him anymore. Focusing on getting her high, he placed a trail of butterfly kisses along her jawline, half whispering a lustful comment in her ear right before working his way down her neck. Dragging his teeth on her skin, she let out a sigh. He pulled back, proud of the goosebumps he had created, when he felt her hands on the nape of his neck, pulling him closer.

He took a told of her other leg, hoisting her upwards so that she was well balanced, his hips pinning her in place. Her legs wrapped around his waist naturally while he let out heavy breaths on the crook of her neck.

More goosebumps, more kisses, more touchy-feely hands, more uncontrolled desire, more exploring, more tuning out the world. The two eventually found themselves sprawled, bare, on a bed, too busy to care about being chased down by the national police.


	10. Chapter 10 - Stripling

Fourteen days.

During those fourteen days, Denver was able to figure out who killed Cala's parents. Turns out that Romanyuk was the one who had ordered the men, so all the team could do, was finish off the rest of Olek's squad.

During those fourteen days, Denver had planned, in detail, the squad's execution. They would isolate it from Sequi, then let Cala finish them off herself, the rest of the team watching from the outskirts, making sure they didn't miss anyone.

Cala was getting geared up, throwing on the same trench coat, strapping on the same multi-gun belt, the same double sword holster, the same knife holder. The way she had fought off the men in Mongolia had impressed Daeus, and the team had learned her style of fighting. She was a brutally violent one.

The team had managed to infiltrate Sequi, and were now headed to corner off Romanyuk's group. The teams this time were different from the ones they had a few months ago. Cala was teamed up with Daeus, Arc and Arsenic were teamed up, and Shunsuke was alone, as always. Franz was monitoring.

Marching down the hallways, Cala held up two guns at her sides, shooting without even bothering to turn her head, taking down officials with single precise bullets. Daeus covered her front, whereas Arsenic and Arc covered her back, teaming up to finish those. They kept advancing, their pace never faltering, Shunsuke walking behind them, making sure they had created as many casualties as possible.

By the time they reached Olek's group, Cala's ammo had run out. She decided that she would execute the rest of his squad with her blades. As soon as she stepped into their wing, the other four took their positions, covering the entrance to the hallway. Daeus was facing Cala, ready to shoot someone if needed, while Arsenic, Arc and Shunsuke guarded the rest of the hallways.

"Hey," Cala barked, getting their attention. She held three knives in each hand, ready to put up a fight.

"Miss Brogs, it's nice to see you again," one of the men in front of her said, taking a step forward. He seemed to be the second in command, well, the first, now that Olek was dead.

She didn't even flinch. "Do you want to kill me too? Just like my parents?"

"Absolutely, malady." He took another step, reaching for a gun hidden in his coat.

Cala didn't waste her time. She flung one of the knives at him. It landed square in his forehead, killing him. "I don't think you should try."

The rest of the group was quick to realize that they had to put up a fight as well. She dropped some knives purposely, now holding one in each hand. She swung at the men, swiftly killing them one by one.

When she got sick of her blades, she threw those aside and pulled out her swords. She fought with those for a while, until she realized that she was more of a blades and guns person. Crouching down to pick one up, she glared at her final enemy.

But unfortunately, finishing him wouldn't be as easy, for he had snatched one of her blades, and was also a skilled fighter. A swipe here, a swipe there, Cala was winning. Then, the man did something that made Cala question herself.

He aimed for her stomach. Instead of rounding her back to make some distance between her flesh and his blade, her arm shot up and wrapped itself around her hips, forcing the man to cut her arm instead. She stumbled backwards, not knowing what kind of instinct was taking over, but knowing that it wasn't good for fighting.

Why did she try to protect her stomach? Was she going crazy? She forgot about her opponent, turning to face her team. Daeus took this as his chance to shoot the man, since her guard was down. Taking a good look at him, Cala started piecing things together.

Long wavy blonde hair that would constantly get tangled in her fingers. Pale purple eyes that couldn't be ignored. Soft lips that always managed to sweep her off her feet. Gentle hands that got her high sometimes. A strong body that would never stop. They had gotten carried away, twice now, but did something else happen?

If she didn't check, she would go mad. She ignored her arm, ignored her team and walked past them, being the first to leave, oblivious to the small amounts of guards that were still around and were still trying to kill her.

 **ABOUT THREE HOURS LATER**

Cala had just finished sampling. She placed the stick on her bathroom counter and waited.

Two minutes went by. Two minutes of stress before it beeped. She wasn't exactly ready to see her result. Yes, she's been exhausted lately, yes, she's been craving certain foods, and no, she didn't get her cycle that month.

She took a deep breath before picking up her test stick. A small blue plus sign was plastered to the screen. She didn't believer her eyes. She tried pinching herself, telling herself that this was a dream, but it wasn't.

Was she really holding a pregnancy test that was positive? How could she know? She slowly let her eyes wander to her stomach, and started crying. A tiny human was going to start forming inside of her pretty soon.

She stumbled out of her bathroom, somehow made it out of her apartment, and to Daeus's apartment. She knocked a few times before he opened.

At the sight of her, he was immediately concerned. She looked exhausted, her face was covered with tears, she was holding a stick of sorts, and a hysterical laugh was already starting to work its way to her throat. He didn't hesitate to let her inside.

"What's up?" he asked as soon as the door was locked. She held up the stick, relief, fear and happiness mixed in her eyes. "What's this?" He took it, trying to understand what the blue plus sign meant.

"I took the test," she managed.

"This?" He wasn't good with women things, but he was certain that she'd explain.

"It's positive..."

"What's positive?" He was exercising his patience. Maybe she couldn't tell him?

She took his hand and placed it on her lower abdomen. "This little thing is getting settled."

It took him a moment for things to click. A test stick with a plus sign, positive means yes, and something's getting settled in her stom-

"Oh my god..." His eyes widened drastically, a smile coming across his face, his eyes starting to water. "You're..."

She nodded frantically. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes." More tears kept streaming down her face. Daeus understood that those were tears of pure joy, and pulled her over.

"Oh my god..." That was all he would say and think for the next while. His lips touched hers as he let his tears fall as well. He found her hand, took the test out of it and was glad that the trash was right beside him.

The next thing they knew, they were on his couch and in the middle of a sweet make out session. They had both decided to pull down the level of intensity, so they shared simple long soft kisses, no tongue involved, no lip-layering.

When they broke apart, Daeus almost jumped off of her, remembering something. He rushed to his bedroom, dug through a messy drawer, and pulled out a small navy blue box.

Walking back to her and sitting down next to her, he was frantically explaining something. "So, I've been meaning to give this to you for a while now, but I never got the chance... Well, more like I've been meaning to ask you a question, but whatever... And now that, well, you're... you're... heh... oh my god I still can't believe it... Anyway, now that you're, well, this... I figured I might as well give this to you now... Or tell you, no, ask you... Oh my god this is harder than I thought it would be... You know what, I'm just going to give this to you..."

He handed her the box. She gawked at it, knowing what was inside, but not wanting to believe it, just like her newly formed child. She opened it slowly and one of her hands flew up to cover her mouth. Inside the box was a beautiful golden ring, a small diamond resting in the middle, two even smaller ones on each side.

She had given him the news, and he answered with a ring. What kind of life was she living? She was barely 20, Daeus was barely 23, they had the craziest jobs, they were crazy good at them, and now she's pregnant and was just proposed to.

"I-I..."

"Cala, listen," Daeus said, wrapping an arm around her. "I fell in love with you when I first saw you... But how much I loved you then, is _nothing_ compared to how much I love you now..."

"Yes," she whispered. Daeus didn't hear her.

"I don't care if we're the craziest couple on the face of the earth... I mean, look at us... We kill for a living... And now you're carrying a child, and I just proposed to you, and I have no idea where this is going to go, but I do know that I won't be able to live without you around..."

"Daeus..." she said, pulling him out of his daze.

"Yea baby?"

She turned to face him. "Shut up."

"What? Why?" he asked, concerned.

"You're such a dork... Your girlfriend just said yes to marrying you, and you didn't even hear her..."

He was quiet for a moment. "Thank god."

"Asshole," she said, stealing a kiss. "I fell for a suicidal psychopath, I'm carrying a suicidal psychopath's child, and now I'm marrying a suicidal psychopath..."

"Couldn't ask for better, could you?"

"You're still an idiot..." She leaned in for another kiss, a longer one this time.


	11. Chapter 11 - Resuscitation

Two months. Eight weeks. Sixty days. 1440 hours. That's how long Cala has been pregnant.

Regardless of the life she's carrying, she's still contributing to missions, since she hadn't told the rest of her team about her pregnancy yet. She wanted to, although she didn't exactly know when would be a good time to do so.

Now that Sequi was exterminated for good, the CIA had found another organization like them, close to Denver. These guys were worse than Sequi, using weapons that only inane people could think of.

Charging at the man in front of her, Cala struck him with her knife, stabbing him in his dominant arm. He tried punching her in the gut, but she had learned how to fight while her unborn child was just starting to develop. She turned her body sideways, so that his arm merely whisked her side, and embedded a blade in his other arm.

But the man had a dirty trick up his sleeve, and was ready to use it.

Meanwhile, Daeus was just finishing off with his last opponent, and was ready to go find Cala, since she had wandered off, taking on a small group by herself. He shot the man and ran in the direction she had left.

He didn't know where she had gone, but when he heard a bloodcurdling scream, he knew exactly where she was. He started sprinting, terrified of losing her.

He turned a corner and saw the outlines of two figures. One with its arm against the other's chest, the other spazzing uncontrollably. He kept going to make out what was going on. When he was close enough, his heart was ripped to shreds.

He had gotten there just in time to see that the one taken over by paroxysm, was Cala, and that the one who had his arm pressed to her chest, was in fact pressing a powerful taser against her sternum. The man seemed to have had enough of torturing her, so what he did next was even worse.

Bringing up his leg, he kicked her in the upper section of her gut, sending her backwards, into a pool of sorts. Her tremors hadn't ceased, meaning that she wouldn't be able to regain control of her body in time to save herself from drowning or choking on water.

Daeus shot the man square in the forehead before running up to the pool and diving in, pulling his fiancé to the surface and getting her out of the cold water. He didn't care if it was February. He didn't care if he was freezing. All he cared about was Cala.

Running while holding her in a bridal, he quickly made his way to a safe area. Laying her down, he knelt beside her, checking to see if she was breathing.

When he didn't feel air on his cheek, when he didn't see her chest rise, his heart, which was already broken, was crushed to bits. He checked for a pulse, but found none.

It was too late. Cala was gone, and wasn't coming back.

"Hell!" he shot at the lifeless body next to him. "You can't go!" He started crying, and didn't bother holding back the tears. Losing people close to him seemed to be his specialty. He cried over the one girl he had loved, and over the child that they will never have.

"Fucking hell Cala!" He took her by the shoulders and shook her, hoping that she would magically wake up. "Fucking _hell_!" Nothing. This shouldn't be happening. He knew that she was too strong of a being to die such a death.

He didn't know what he was anymore. He took her head with his hands and placed a desperate kiss on her cold lips, his tears rolling down his cheeks and landing onto hers. He was already longing to breathe her air-

It hit him. CPR. Mouth to mouth. Force her heart to start beating again. He pulled back and got to work, stuffing his jacket under her right hip, for her fetus, and starting some compressions.

He got to thirty and switched to breaths. One. Wait. Two. Back to compressions.

"Come on," he panted. Twenty eight. Twenty nine. Thirty. Breath one. Wait. Breath two. He repeated this over and over again until he heard something crack. One of her ribs had just snapped, making space for her heart to start beating again.

He kept on going, over and over, not daring to take a break. Daeus was just about to start his 13th round of compressions when her eyes flew open and she started gasping for air, colour slowly returning to her face. He pulled back and let her lungs settle.

After a while, she had enough strength to talk. "That was scary..."

"Says the one who I had to do some CPR on you," he said, relieved beyond words.

She smiled faintly. "People ask themselves what it's like to die..."

"Shhh..."

"Well, at first, you don't know what's going on. You're cold. It's dark. You can hear everything around you. You want to react, you want to see, but you can't. You can barely feel, your thoughts aren't making sense, light above, darkness below..."

"Please Cala..."

She kept on ignoring him. "I wanted to talk to you and tell you that I was fine. I wanted to hug you. I could hear you crying, and I wanted to comfort you, but I didn't see why I should... My brain seemed to accept the fact that I was dead before my conscience did..."

He stuck his face right above hers, an inch separating them. "Shut up, will you..." And he leaned in to kiss her. The kiss was mostly from his part, since she was still weak, so he decided to pull back and bring her back home.

 **HALF AN HOUR LATER**

After having taken care of her, after having tucked her in, Daeus marched down to the lobby, not surprised to find everyone waiting for him.

After all, he had shoved everyone over, with a barely conscious Cala in his arms, so everyone had questions.

He didn't want to answer them. All he wanted was to get a few things off his back. He sat down in a chair and stared at everyone solemnly.

"Cala's pregnant by the way..." he said after a while.

"What?" Arc said.

"When?" Arsenic asked.

" _Since_ when?" Franz asked.

"When she came to pick me up from Mongolia... Either that or the island..." Daeus said slowly.

"So that's _two_ months either way," Franz said.

"Yes..." He looked up.

"Good job cowboy..." Arsenic told him with a smile that the group saw for the first time.

"Since when do you smile?" Arc asked her, making her smile some more.

Daeus didn't seem to be aware of those two getting along. He stood up slowly and started walking to the exit.

"Where are you going?" Franz asked him.

"I've got a few things to catch up on..." he said without looking back.

"You can't just leave like that!" Arc said, walking up to him, but was stopped by Arsenic's hand on his shoulder. This simple action, by such a closed person, got Arc to freeze.

"He knows what he's doing," she said calmly. Arc kept watching his best friend walk away from his life.

 **TWO DAYS LATER**

Cala was still hopeful that Daeus would come back, putting aside what everyone else had told her about how he walked away from everything.

She still didn't believe them. They said everything, but was it really everything. The only way for her to know was to check.

She stepped into his apartment and started digging. She emptied every drawer, every cabinet, every closet, every space she could find. She finally found what she was looking for.

Her knees gave way and she sank to the ground, sobs taking over. They weren't lying. He had left everything behind. Including his end of the deal.

In her hands were two things. A paper with a note on it. A wedding ring to match hers.

She read the note over and over, although there wasn't much to read.

 _Please forgive me. I love you baby._

She broke down even more, throwing the ring across the room. After a while of crying, she felt a presence next to her, rubbing her shoulder for comfort.

"He'll be back..." Franz said. She crumpled the paper up in her hand and rubbed her stomach.


	12. Chapter 12 - Regret

September. The door creaked open. Daeus's father stepped inside the house, not bothering to turn on the lights. He soon realized that he wasn't the only one there, and started creeping forwards instead of walking.

Then he saw a bare, muscular back with a large tribal tattoo spread across the shoulder blades, the rest of it seeming to trail up under long wavy blonde hair. In one hand, the man in front of him held a small blade.

"Who are you?" he said, his voice filled with fear. The man turned around slowly. "Holy fuck..."

"Hi dad... It's been a while..." he said with a soft smile, although his eyes were filled with hatred.

"Amadaeus... Son... Hi..." his father replied, slightly nervous to see his youngest in front of him after six years.

His smile faded away. "I'm not your son."

His brow knotted at that. "That's not true, you were always my son..."

"Bullshit!"

"Amadaeus, there is no need to get worked up..." He tried comforting him.

"Don't call me that." Daeus said coldly.

"What?"

"It's just Daeus now..."

His father paused a moment. "What have you done to yourself?"

"What have I done to myself? What did you do to me? Blaming me for what happened to mom, blaming me for coming to this world, blaming me for your own reputation, blaming me for my own brother's death."

He flinched at the mention of his eldest. "I didn't mean to -" Daeus cut him off.

"You knew. Deep down you knew it was an accident. You knew. But you blamed me anyway, just like you've always done..."

"I regret what I've done Amadaeus..." His eyes were pleading to spare him.

"It's too late dad, what you've created out of me can't be undone..." The next thing Daeus knew, he was straddling his father, threatening him with the blade.

"Son, put that down..."

He ignored his father. "And somehow, with all the shit you've given me, I've been able to live..."

"What?"

"The misery you gave me got me through juvy. Juvy got me into the CIA. The CIA gave me a girlfriend. Now she's gonna make me a father."

"I'm going to be a grandpa?" his dad said, a spark lighting up in his eyes.

Daeus kept on ignoring him, bringing the knife closer to his neck. "And I swear, on my mother's grave, on Caido's grave, and on your grave, that I'll be a better father than you have _ever_ been." The tip of the knife touched his neck.

"Daeus please..."

"You know what? I feel like sparing you..." he mocked, getting off his father and walking away, ignoring his attempts to bring him back.

Walking out, he took a good look at his hands. They were the hands of a killer, and something was missing on his right hand.

A small ring should be on his right ring finger, but it wasn't. He had left it behind, and he hated himself for having done so. Something had told him to leave that behind as well, so all he could do was write her a letter.

 **THREE MONTHS LATER**

A year ago, Cala learned that she was pregnant. A year ago, Daeus proposed to her.

Ten months ago, she almost died. Ten months ago, he disappeared without a word.

Five months ago, she had a miscarriage. Five months ago, she gave up.

She didn't see any point in living anymore. She had kept herself in good shape for the sake of her unborn son, but when she lost him, she didn't care about her health.

Over those five months, she had become more and more depressed, not wanting to train, not wanting to participate in missions and barely eating. On top of all that, she tried self harm, thinking it would make things better, since Daeus wasn't around to do so, but she was wrong. Sliced forearms only made things worse, so she stopped.

Lying down on the couch, staring out the grand window, Cala thought of how she had made out with a drunk Daeus on it. She instinctively took a hold of her right ring finger and fiddled with the small diamond ring.

She heard something fall to the ground, most likely ceramic or glass, in the apartment beside hers. She wondered who would be in his apartment, now that she was pretty sure he was never going to come back.

A minute passed by before she heard Sen screaming at the top of her lungs, catching her curiosity. Sen was almost always on the main floor, and was rarely ever heard, meaning that something big must be happening. The screaming stopped and she was plunged into silence and depression once again.

Another minute passed before she was shaken out of her misery. She heard a quiet knock on the door.

"What?" she shot coldly. Whoever was at the door didn't answer her, making her think it was Franz, for he visited her almost every day ever since Daeus left. Another tentative knock. "It's open goddamnit." She didn't want to do anything, and almost never bothered to lock her door anymore.

Whoever was outside took the liberty of entering. Sensing someone familiar, Cala was almost 100% sure it was Franz. She didn't want him around at the moment, so she picked up the nearest pillow in arms reach and whipped it in their direction.

If the person would have sidestepped the pillow, it would be on the ground, but it never made it there. It was caught in midair at an unnatural speed. But when the person spoke, Cala changed her mind.

"You don't have to be so straightforward you know..."

She was too shocked to react, so she didn't. She sat up slowly, stood up slowly and walked up to them slowly, as if those ten months were never here. She raised her hand and brought it up to his face, her palm landing square on his cheek, a loud slap resonating, leaving a big red mark. His head snapped sideways from the hard impact.

After a moment, he turned his head back towards her, a mixture of sadness, relief, solemnity, compassion and seriousness plastered to his face.

"Fuck you," she spat. He was a bit too calm, which ticked her off some more. He didn't seem to care that she just bitchslapped him hard. "Fuck you Daeus..."

The next thing she knew, he was squeezing her against him in a protective hug. That was all it took for her to break down. She had missed him so much, yet she wanted him to leave. Her cheeks were covered in tears in a matter of seconds, her shoulders shuddering brutally as she bawled into his chest, her hands covering her face.

He was heartbroken to see her like this, but he didn't know how else he should do it. He had slipped in through his window, making a cup fall in the process, but he didn't care at the moment. All he cared about was the girl he left behind.

"I'm here baby..." he managed, a huge lump in his throat.

"Why did you l-leave?" she muttered between sobs, her voice muffled by his chest. "Wh-where did you go?"

"I was wrong to leave... I thought it would pass, but it didn't... I couldn't live with myself..."

She cried even harder. "Goddamnit..."

"I had some things to clear up with my dad..."

"Are you two okay now?" Her mind didn't want to think. All she wanted to do was cry in his arms.

"Yeah..." Her arms slid out from under her and wrapped around him.

"But why t-ten months?"

He pulled back and took a good look at her face. She looked exhausted. "Listen, to be honest, I wasn't ready to become a dad..."

Those words reminded her of her unfortunate pregnancy. She sank back into his arms, letting him hold all her weight. He picked her up swiftly and walked to her bedroom.

Placing her under she sheets, he snuck in with her. After a while of having his chest pressed against her back, her sobs started to calm down. He stroked her head with one hand, hugging her waist with the other. As she drifted to sleep, Daeus wondered where his child was, putting the fact that he didn't want to become a father behind him.

 **THE NEXT DAY**

Cala woke up after the best sleep she's had in ages. The two were still in the same position. She turned around to find him waking up.

"God I missed that face..." Daeus said, tilting her chin up and placing a soft kiss on her lips, one that she was scared to forget. They broke apart after what felt like forever.

Cala decided to open up. Raising her arm, he saw scars along her forearm. "Don't say it as if it was nothing..."

"What in your right mind were you thinking?" he said, confused.

"That you weren't around to comfort me when I needed it, and that this should do it..."

"Listen, I'm-"

"No. You listen. I know exactly what's going through your mind right now. Where's my son?"

"It's a boy?"

"It should have been a boy."

His mind went blank. "What?"

Her eyes started to tear up. "I basically died ten months back. That affected him, and I ended up having a miscarriage at five months..." A tear fell down her cheek.

He wiped it away with his thumb. "Baby..."

She flinched at his touch. She never flinched at him, and that perked his curiosity. "And where were you? Busy taking revenge."

He had no clue what to say to comfort her, so all he did was take her head and cram it into his chest, hugging her some more. She broke down again. He tried to imagine how she felt, but couldn't find the right words to describe it. After a while of thinking, he found one,

Lost.

She was lost, and didn't know what to do.


	13. Chapter 13 - Ensue

Six months after Daeus came back, he was taken away by the new organization that they had discovered.

Month four. While on a mission, Franz caught a whiff of a conversation between two men who worked for that organization. The subject of their chat had interested him, although it was terrifying.

That crazy new organization was able to create some sort of weapon, and it involved radiation. From what he had understood, the way it worked was like a switch. Press the button, and you'd have total control over someone's brain. A true mass destruction weapon.

Month six. Franz had managed to send Daeus in to infiltrate the organization, but they had caught him, and they kept him for two weeks. They experimented on him, trying out their new weapon. Unfortunately, it didn't completely work on him, since his brain worked differently than the majority of the population, and the organization hadn't thought of that.

They were able to make him do some things, but he would resist to complicated tasks. It wasn't resist as in refuse, but resist as in complete physical torture, since his body wasn't doing what it was supposed to, making his brain undergo severe trauma, not enough to damage it, but enough to make his whole body convulse brutally, usually resulting in him getting injured.

After two weeks of heavy radiation, they let him go, not bothering to try to fix him up, but using a memory swipe instead, erasing those two weeks from his mind.

 **PRESENT DAY**

It's now been seven months since Daeus came back, and he was already undergoing treatment to try and fix his broken body. He would have to spend a total of 60 days under the machine, not consecutive, but as tight as he could make them.

Cala has decided to move in with Daeus, for the simple purpose of not wanting to be left alone anymore.

 **TWO WEEKS EARLIER**

When the door to their apartment swung open, Cala's head whipped in that direction just in time to see Daeus stumble into his residence. He didn't look any good either, so she rushed to him.

"What have they done to you?" she asked, catching him as his knees gave way and half-carried half-dragged him to the couch. Sitting him down, she ran to the kitchen and came back shortly with a glass of water in one hand and a chair in the other. She sat down right in front of him and helped him chug down the water.

While doing so, she examined his face. His cheeks were caved in, he looked beaten, his hair didn't seem as long anymore. When he opened his eyes, she didn't see the purple ones that she had fallen for, but instead, she saw more of a deep blue with hints of purple in them.

"I don't remember any of it..." he said slowly, his voice cracking. His voice wasn't as deep and smooth as it usually was, and that brought Cala to realize that what they had done was practically irreversible.

 **TWO MONTHS LATER**

Daeus was reaching his half-mark for his treatment, meaning that they'd give him a week's break for his body to calm down. During that week, Cala's life changed, for good this time.

Stepping into his apartment, Cala was waiting for him. At the sight of him, her heart started racing, something that it hadn't done in ages. He looked more like the Daeus she had fallen for two years ago, than the Daeus that had come back drained of everything.

He walked up to her, took a told of her waist and crammed his lips against hers. He knew she couldn't resist him, but he also knew that he shouldn't be doing this. But frankly, to hell with what he should and shouldn't do, he needed something to help him get through the treatment, since it was torture by itself.

He walked her backwards, until she found the wall. The two started making out, Daeus knowing that he might end up hurting her if they went too far. Cala was surprised at how insisting he was, but she could feel that he wasn't sure about himself. She pulled back.

"You okay?" she asked, worried.

He avoided her question. "Do you know how much it hurts?"

"What?"

"What they did to me was torture, the treatment is torture, and being restricted to so many things is torture..."

"What do you mean restricted?"

One of his hands wandered up to tuck away a strand of her hair. He ignored her question once more. "I just need something to get the pain off my mind..."

She was still trying to piece things together when his mouth collided with hers. Just as he did so, she understood. He needed her more than she could imagine. They resumed their make out session against the wall, the room temperature increasing gradually.

After a while, some of their clothes were missing, and Cala had just playfully shoved Daeus onto the couch, climbing onto his lap, cupping his head between her hands and kissing him again.

She realized that she needed something to loosen up too, but she hadn't realized that she had started grinding up on him until his hands started creeping up her rib cage, pulling her shirt up at the same time. She knew she needed to break away from him if she wanted to get her shirt off.

She ended their kiss briefly by tugging on his lower lip with her teeth. He slid off her top, she gave him a grin and put her lips back onto his. His hands settled on caressing her outer thighs, while one of her hand bunched up some of his hair and settled on massaging his scalp.

His fingers ran up and down her smooth bare legs, while her other hand wrapped around his strong bare torso. His mouth wandered over to her ear.

"We're getting carried away Cala..." he half whispered, half murmured with a deep voice that made her pull him closer. He feathered her neck with his lips. As he worked his way to her collarbones, she let out a shaky sigh, a numbing feeling taking over.

All her cares left her at that moment. She wanted Daeus, but her body needed him, and God he was good at everything he did.

He started to stand up, when he felt her legs wrap around his waist. He took a hold of the small of her back, and walked to his bedroom, still exploring her mouth. He climbed onto his bed, his fiancé attached to him like a sloth. When they were high enough, she let herself drop, knocking the wind out of her lungs, and not getting enough time to breath, for his mouth was already on hers.

Their tongues intertwined as his pants found the floor. He kept on working wonders in her mouth, waiting for her back to arch so he could unhook her. His cue arrived, and he did what he had planned to. He was surprised when she didn't react, since she had done so the previous times. Maybe she wanted this as much as he did...

Eventually, the two were stuck under bedsheets, burning with desire, enjoying themselves to death, and trying to conceive a life.

 **FORTY FIVE DAYS LATER**

Everything had started to go uphill from the day the two had tried.

Treatment, done. Daeus was now back to normal, and ready for life ahead of him.

Test, positive. Cala had just passed her first month marker of being pregnant, and decided to put her job aside for now.

Leave, check. The two were able to go on both maternity and paternity leave, giving them more than enough time to get ready for their little one.

Ring, perfect. Cala and Daeus had managed to get married soon after she learned that she was carrying a life, and that life was most likely going to be a girl.

 **THREE YEARS LATER**

September, five years after Cala joined. Her child, Rümico, who came to the world two years ago, was now one of the strongest toddlers anyone would have seen.

Her build was like her mothers, made for intense fighting. Her personality was a mixture of both her parents, one that would never be broken. She was also as witty as both her parents.

Rümico had inherited her mother's dark hair and freckles, but had also inherited her father's gene defect, which gave her pale purple eyes with hints of grey in them.

She was a contradiction to where she was born, hence her zodiac being Cancer. A cheerful little girl shouldn't be raised around assassins, but Franz saw potential in the kid, and, when she'd be of age, he was thinking of letting her join the team.


End file.
